Poppy Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay 2013
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This must be the best-value Chardonnay from Santa Lucia Highlands. Fresh and elegant with a bounty of melon and peach fruit and lemon intensity. It could have a longer finish but it’s lush and creamy with great complexity for the price.
By controlling grapes sourcing and operating a state-of-the-art facility, Poppy combines age-old winemaking traditions with new world techniques that make the California wine industry one of the best.
When deciding on a name, the Silva’s wanted something that spoke to the great state of California where their family had settled so many years ago. One day, while looking at wild poppies growing amongst the vines, the name was born. Celebrating the state of California and its golden blooming flowers, Poppy is a proud symbol for our great state and this great wine.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Perhaps the most highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.