The density and richness of the wines produced from these small clusters is undeniable.
Releases February 2026 | Download fact sheet
“Oh my god, it’s like Jesus’ water.”
“I'm just saying, it’s like Cinderella’s glass slipper if it had a taste.”
—Kelly Clarkson, The Kelly Clarkson Show
WINEMAKER JEFF AMES’ NOTEBOOK:
Vineyard: This wine comes from a single three-acre Chardonnay vineyard Larry Hyde introduced to Tor in 2008. It belonged to one of his oldest friends in the Napa Valley, Steve Beresini, and was planted three decades ago with cuttings Larry gave Steve. We call this plant material – Hyde Selection Wente Clone. Larry Hyde claims it is the shyest-bearing clone he has propagated. Today, it produces a minuscule crop in Steve’s vineyard, usually between one and two tons per acre. The clusters are half the normal size of an average Chardonnay cluster, but the density and richness of the wines produced from these small clusters are undeniable.
Winemaking: The 2024 Beresini Vineyard Chardonnay comes from the 30+ year-old Wente clone vines in Carneros. As we normally do, this is whole-cluster pressed with no juice settling, so we go to the tank and then barrel, with heavy lees. The wild yeast kicks in about 7-10 days later and takes around 2 weeks to go dry. At the end of fermentation, the wild malolactic (ML) fermentation starts and will take another several weeks to a few months to complete. Once we’re about a month away from bottling, the wine is put into a tank at 50 degrees to settle out, allowing the lees and solids to settle naturally, so we can go to the bottle unfined and unfiltered.
Winemaker’s Tasting Notes: The 2024 Beresini Vineyard Chardonnay shows a distinct lemon curd/lemon meringue pie profile on the nose, along with sea spray and daisies. On the palate, this wine is medium to full weight with a silky, round middle and hints of honey and apricot. The finish is silky smooth without any rough edges, and for me, just screams to be paired with crab legs.
Vintage: 2024 shoots pushed in early spring with vigor due to excellent groundwater and warm conditions forming healthy canopies. Before veraison, in June and into July, Napa experienced two short heat spikes which accelerated ripening. It was an early start for the vineyards, and an early harvest for the winemakers, a bit fast and furious toward the end, but overall one we all fondly look back on as special. The wines have great color, extract, layers of flavor, excellent #s (PH/TA/dry extract/etc..). 2024 is reminiscent of some of the great vintages of the past like 1987 and 1991, that have aged extremely well.
