MOUNTAIN MUSE
Issue Seventeen | Time Reveals The Mountain
For most wineries, the bottling stage signals a wine's imminent release and the culmination of a journey that began with harvesting the grapes and continued through fermentation and aging in casks. Once it is in the bottle, the wine makes its way to market, ready to be enjoyed.
At Stonestreet, the narrative takes a different path. We intentionally delay the release of our bottled wines for several years from vintage, allowing our mountain-grown Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons time to soften their youthful edges and reveal their intricate aromas and flavors. While many wines have completed their journey, ours are just beginning theirs.
Stonestreet's library program is the brainchild of second-generation proprietor Chris Jackson and an extension of Jess Jackson's and Barbara Banke's vision: to share the incredible diversity of our mountain estate with patience and intention. "This is not a novel concept, but it's somewhat rare to see it executed in the United States," Chris says.
Our library program is founded on the belief, borne out by experience, that mountain-grown wines—with their natural structure, concentration, and freshness—benefit from additional time in bottle.
We hold back our Chardonnays for at least three years from vintage, and our Cabernet Sauvignons for at least five. The bottles are cellared in pristine conditions until our winemaker, Kristina Shideler, determines they are ready. It is a stage our collectors never see, but one from which they fully benefit.
After our Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons have been bottled, time continues to work its influence. Unlike barrels, glass bottles create a reductive environment, one largely free from oxygen, which allows the wines to develop slowly and gracefully.
During bottle aging, our Cabernet Sauvignons become more integrated and refined. Tannins soften, textures grow smoother, and aromas and flavors begin to shift from primary fruit toward layered notes of dried blackberry, violet, chaparral, cedar, graphite, tobacco, crème de cassis, and bay laurel. Natural sediment may also form over time, a harmless reminder of the wine’s evolution in bottle.
Our Chardonnays evolve in their own way, deepening in color and gaining texture, richness, and aromatic complexity. Notes of citrus and stone fruit may be joined by layers of chamomile, orange blossom, sage, toasted almond, and crème brûlée, while the mountain-grown acidity continues to lend freshness and lift. As they age, our Chardonnays may also throw sediment, which can look like diamond crystals. These too are a harmless reflection of the evolving flavors we are careful not to strip from the wine (we invite you to learn more here).
With both varieties, our library wines reveal the rewards of patience: a treasure of layered scents and flavors, mouth-filling texture, and long, mineral-driven finishes. These wines are not past their prime. On the contrary, they are just beginning to enter a beautiful drinking window, with many years of graceful development ahead.
One reason we take time to bottle-age our wines is simply because we can. Few wines in the world are intrinsically capable of long-term aging, but our Cabernet Sauvignons and Chardonnays are naturally built for longevity. Sourced from high-elevation vineyards—up to 2,400 feet in Christopher’s Vineyard for Cabernet Sauvignon and up to 1,800 feet in Upper Barn Vineyard for Chardonnay—they reflect the propitious conditions of their mountain origins. Intense sunlight, cooling Pacific winds, diverse soils, and dramatic temperature shifts all contribute to producing small berries with the concentration, structure, and acidity that allow a wine to develop gracefully over time.
Still, ageability alone is not the reason we wait. Most wineries release wines according to market timing. At Stonestreet, we release our wines according to their evolution. We want collectors to experience them when their vineyard character is fully expressed. It is a rare commitment by a winery to do this, but one that allows us to show what the mountain has to offer the moment you uncork a wine.
One of the great challenges of collecting wine is knowing when to open a bottle. Stonestreet’s library program removes much of that uncertainty by allowing the winery to do the waiting first. By the time you open one of our Cabernet Sauvignons or Chardonnays, it has spent years in carefully controlled conditions, giving you confidence in the bottle’s readiness and provenance.
Once a library wine reaches your cellar, that same patience and care should continue. Store bottles on their side in a cool, dark place with a consistent temperature, away from vibration and direct light. Before opening an older bottle, allow it to stand upright so any natural sediment can settle, then handle the cork gently. A brief, gentle decant can help separate the wine from sediment while preserving its nuanced flavors and delicate aromatics (learn more about decanting here). These small steps help protect the character that time has already brought forward.
Extended bottle aging offers our collectors the best of both worlds—accessibility and longevity—giving them the opportunity to enjoy the wines upon release or cellar them for additional years as they continue to evolve.
Our library program is more than a release strategy—it reflects our commitment to ensuring our mountain estate endures for future generations. Every decision—from how we grow, make, and share our wines—is connected by the same belief: that great wine is shaped not by urgency, but by patience, care, and time.
"The library program is really incredible," Kristina explains. "We hold back half of our inventory, which may not be good from a cash flow perspective but is the right thing to do for the long term. Nobody's trying to rush things, which gives me, as a winemaker, a lot of stability because my mind is always thinking about two, three years ahead."
We hope that knowing more about our library program will deepen your appreciation for our wines and the extra care we take before they reach your hands. At Stonestreet, the mountain may give our wines their structure, but it is time that brings their stories to fruition, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to share them with you.
