Maitre de Chai Sparkling Solera

Maître de Chai (May-TRUH de Shay) translates to 'keeper of the cellar', or the person responsible for the development and aging of wine. By extension, the humble cellar master is the person responsible for the management of the winery. Established in 2012, Maître de Chai is the personal project of Marty Winters and Alex Pitts. Together they look to make wines of high quality in a way that best showcases the sense of place where the grapes are grown and the personality of the vineyard. From the ground to the bottle, the character of the wine is the focus. Winters and Pitts source grapes from unique and distinct single vineyards that are impeccably farmed in California. 

As the name implies, these wines are cared for in the cellar. Firstly, Maître de Chai defers to nature and limits their intervention. Winters and Pitts taste and then wait, taste and then wait, allowing the wines to develop and speak for the places in which they are rooted.

The Michael Mara Vineyard — planted in 2006 by Steve & Jill Klein Matthiasson — is a beautiful Chardonnay site just west of the town of Sonoma. This Traditional Method Sparkling Solera is a reserve blend of Chardonnay with components dating back to 2012 — the wineries first vintage. What started as the “Intern Project Chardonnay” in 2012 has culminated into a sparkling wine that is a blend of every vintage by Maitre de Chai. This is the second bottling of the Sparkling Solera to date. This blend is predominantly from the 2019 vintage, while about 40% of this bottling is from their perpetual reserve from vintages dating back to 2012 — which is why they refer to this wine as a sparkling Solera.  

The 2019 vintage itself was a beautiful and bountiful vintage from the vineyard. Notoriously rocky soil is what characterizes this vineyard from others in the area -- when Steve and Jill Matthaisson planted this vineyard in 2006, they encountered what they called to this day, the rockiest soil they have ever worked with. Given that characteristic, they decided to plant the most naturally acid-driven clone of Chardonnay, Wente clone 4.

In this iteration, Maitre de Chai sparkling is bright, unctuous and textural. Over the years, making this wine as a still Chardonnay has provided the winery with a lot of insight on how the wine ages and what kind of textures it brings to the bottle, even with a few years of age. This delicious sparkler is creamy and expressive with an underlying power. The acidity is only matched with the density of this vintage, making for a structured and delicious sparkling Chardonnay. This bottle could easily age for 10+ years.