Stephen Vincent Chardonnay 2012
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Blend: 100% Chardonnay
Born out of friendship, a passion for wine, and a common love of Northern California.
Stephen Vincent was conceived in the infancy of California’s wine industry and Sonoma County’s rise to stardom. Founded by La Crema winemaker, Robert Goyette, Robert Mondavi executive and brand namesake, Stephen Vincent Situm, and prominent vineyard owner, Hossein Namdar in 2001, these three friends found rapid success with their joint venture Stephen Vincent.
Through the burgeoning community of growers and producers, they worked with Dennis Carroll (owner-founder of Wine Hooligans) at his Sonoma County bottling facility. Dennis’s mission of bringing artisan wines made by passionate winemakers to market found a perfect match with Stephen Vincent and its founders—once again bringing friends together through the brand.
2020 marks a fresh start for Stephen Vincent wines with the release of their North Coast line-up. Sourcing from vineyards in Lake, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma Counties—including premium fruit from Napa Valley, the Russian River Valley, and Carneros.
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.
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.