Winemaker Notes
This wonderfully complex Sonoma County Chardonnay has aromatics of caramel toffee and exotic lychee with hints of spice, sugar babies and lemon pie filing. In the mouth, the wine is lush and viscous but packs extraordinary depth of flavor rich with lemon pie, luscious caramel and vanilla wafer. This round yet delicate wine finishes with bright acidity and a creamy finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
From warmer parts of Sonoma County, this rich and luxurious wine offers golden apples, yellow peaches, hints of caramel and vanilla on a full body and rounded, mouth-filling texture.
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Wine & Spirits
The scent of bananas Foster swirls from the nose of this Chard that is aged in a combination of oak for richness and stainless steel to retain verve. The flavors of baked apple, caramel and cream will be an excellent match for richer seafood dishes like halibut with beurre blanc.
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.
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.
