Bold and rare - describes the wine and the man. Furth, the wine, is the pinnacle red wine from the Chalk Hill Estate; a wine that speaks in a booming voice of its terroir. Its big flavors are assembled from old-vine blocks of Bordeaux varietals that have the personality and panache to personify Fred Furth's vision of "the best that my home estate can produce."
Produced only in exceptional years, and in minute quantities, no expense is spared in its creation. Starting with intensive care in the vineyards- handcrafting in the winery, special cooperage, extended barrel age, even its sturdy, eponymous bottle- all are steps in the creative process designed to focus the fruit into a broad, expansive, weighty wine worthy of the name.
| > 2003 Furth | $400 |
One of the main components in the white wines of Bordeaux, Semillon was planted at Chalk Hill in 1981 as a complementary blending varietal for the Sauvignon Blanc program. In a sheltered site — the lowest, coolest and most damp site on the estate — and in very rare years, a combination of factors serendipitously occurs yielding a dessert wine that emulates the great wines of Sauternes.
It is a great gamble to leave perfectly ripe grapes on the vine, all in the hopes that conditions prove ideal to create a bloom of botrytis cinerea — a mold that drinks water from the grapes leaving an entrancing, honeyed juice. Increased humidity and long, rainless days at the tail end of harvest occurs so seldom that Chalk Hill is lucky if they have one vintage per decade — and only a scant few bottles at that.
| > 1997 Estate Vineyard Selection Botrytised Semillon |  |
| > 1994 Estate Vineyard Selection Botrytised Semillon | |
A limited amount of these wines were handcrafted exclusively for the Chalk Hill Chairman's Club. The wines illustrate unmistakable quality and uncompromising grape growing efforts.
