Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
The 00 Chardonnay is made with a heavy pressing and allowed to oxidise before fermentation, an old Burgundian method from the last century, referred to as Black Chardonnay. The wines then sit with the heavy lees in the barrel with no battonage. It creates a rich texture and structure that makes for an ageable Chardonnay. The 00 Chardonnays really shine in this bottling. The Richard Hermann Cuvée reveals an impressive bouquet of beeswax and honey that revels in rich lemon curd and a light, airy note of lemongrass and gunsmoke. The palate shows excellent clarity, with piquant notes of salted lemon wedge that cut through sweet peach candies, chipped flint minerality and green mangoes.
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James Suckling
This is a striking, new-wave style of Oregon chardonnay. Fragrant toast, butter and flint aromas lead to a taut, nervy palate of lemon zest, lime pith, green apple, nutmeg and vanilla bean flavors on racy acidity. Medium-bodied, nicely fresh and linear in terms of acidity. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The bright yellow 2022 Chardonnay Richard Hermann Cuvee opens with flinty, reductive notes and aromas of lemon oil, green apples, dusty earth, and fresh flowers. Full-bodied yet light on its feet, it glides across the palate with finesse. Integrated oak brings hints of crème brûlée to balance its rich core of citrus, and the finish is long and harmonious.
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Vinous
The 2022 Chardonnay Richard Hermann Cuvée combines richness with fruit intensity. Masses of crushed stone, dried herbs and a hint of white smoke give way to green apples and nuances of sesame seed. Lively tension abounds; the 2022 is crisp yet silken in feel, with a cascade of inner florals and citrus concentration complementing tart orchard fruit. It tapers off structured and full of tension, with a lemony resonance and crunchy mineral tones that leave the palate thirsting for more. Fantastic.
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.
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.