In celebration of Schramsberg’s golden anniversary, our winemaking team is very excited to present this special limited bottling: 1999 Late Disgorged J. Schram. It is hard to believe that 50 years have passed since Jack and Jamie Davies revived the historic Schramsberg estate with the idea of making the nation’s first Chardonnay- and Pinot Noir-based bottle-fermented sparkling wines. They cleaned up the century-old caves and historic buildings on the property, reestablished its vineyards, and reopened Schramsberg’s doors at a time when there were only 22 active wineries in the Napa Valley. Today we are most thankful that they did! With this beautifully aged offering, we honor Jack and Jamie Davies, Jacob and Annie Schram who founded the estate in 1862, and all of those who have helped drive their visions to produce world-class wines. We have come a long way!

With a little over 14 years of contact on the yeast in the bottle in our historic Diamond Mountain Caves, this sparkling wine has developed exquisite richness, depth and complexity. Extensive aging en tirage enables savory, nutty and seasoned attributes to evolve with fruitful caramelization, density and creaminess on the palate. With great enthusiasm, we present this one-of-a-kind offering of our tête de cuvée, blended from our select range of Chardonnay vineyards in California’s North Coast. A limited number of bottles of this wine were made to commemorate this special year in our history.

Principal Chardonnay Blocks
Napa-Carneros: Tognetti, Schwarze
Sonoma-Carneros: Sangiacomo-Donnell
County Composition: 57% Napa, 15% Mendocino, 15% Monterey, 13% Sonoma

“Bursting with youthful vitality, the 1999 J. Schram Late Disgorged shows vibrant aromas of Granny Smith apple and Mandarin orange. Aromatic depth is further accentuated by créme brûlée, honey comb and caramel. Crisp and delicious on entry, exhibiting generous fruitful flavors of peach, apricot and pineapple, the palate finishes with a rich, lingering acidity. The 1999 J. Schram LD can certainly be enjoyed now, but will continue to develop and build character for many years to come.” Keith Hock and Hugh Davies, Winemakers