Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Elway’s Reserve Carneros Chardonnay is well-balanced, exhibiting crisp tropical fruit, apple and pear flavors with light floral elements. Hints of vanilla complement a smooth, lingering oak finish.
Pair this crisp wine with light fare such as sliced fruit & cheeses, lemon pasta salad, roasted chicken with herbs, or vanilla pudding.
Professional Ratings
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 "7" Cellars Elway's Reserve Chardonnay offers excellent complexities. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows attractive aromas and flavors of earth, savory spices, ripe fruit, and minerality. Enjoy it with shellfish in rich cream sauces. (Tasted: May 19, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
-
Wine Spectator
Features concentrated apple and pear pastry flavors, supported by crisp acidity. Buttery notes show midpalate, with spicy and toasty accents on the finish. Drink now through 2025.
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.