Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Chardonnay
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Mineral-edged aromas of lemon peel, flint, oyster shells and apples. The palate is medium-bodied with bright acidity, giving notes of grapefruit, orange blossoms, pastry and lanolin. Very balanced and pure with underlying tension.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Chardonnay Evenstad Reserve is a bright silver/straw color and offers more subtle aromatics initially, with powdery white flowers, lemon pith, pear, and melon. The palate is medium-bodied and has an elegant, floating feel, a smooth texture, and a floral and delicately toasted spice that lingers on the finish. It’s an attractive Chardonnay that initially feels light on its feet but builds with mouthwatering intensity as it unfolds.
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Wine Enthusiast
Pears, lemon and chamomile flowers dominate an aromatic set that includes smaller amounts of vanilla and chalkboard dust. A lemon tart with a butter crust and cinnamon flavor combination holds court on the palate. The wine's texture is on the rich side, with more than enough acidity to keep things interesting.
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Wine Spectator
Generous yet refined, with multilayered flavors of baked apple, lemon and toasty spices that fan out on the fleshy finish.
Ken and Grace Evenstad founded Domaine Serene Vineyards and Winery in 1989 when they purchased 42 acres of just-logged land in the Dundee Hills of Oregon and built a five-level, gravity flow winery to produce ultra-premium Pinot Noir. Today, Domaine Serene produces wines from six individual vineyard estates in the Willamette Valley planted exclusively to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Each estate offers a diversity of soils, clones, rootstocks, microclimates, slopes, and elevations that add distinguishing complexity and elegance to the wines.
The Evenstads now own over 1,000 acres, more than 360 of which are planted to vine in three AVAs of the Willamette Valley and are actively preserving Oregon White Oak trees and the biodiversity of the region. They have achieved LIVE certification, the highest certification in the world for sustainable viticulture. Domaine Serene’s wines have won many accolades and awards, including 200 wines scoring 90 points or higher by Wine Spectator. Their 2013 Evenstad Reserve Pinot Noir was recognized as #3 Wine in the World, while the 2014 Evenstad Reserve Chardonnay received 95 points and was ranked the #2 Wine in the World according to Wine Spectator. Over the years, Domaine Serene has opened three Oregon Wine Lounges in Portland, Bend, and Lake Oswego that offer wine club members, locals, and visitors an elevated wine experience.
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 of the first Pinot noir vineyard of the Willamette Valley, planted by David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard in 1966, today the Dundee Hills AVA remains the most densely planted AVA in the valley (and state). To its north sits the Chehalem Valley and to its south, runs the Willamette River. Within the region’s 12,500 acres, about 1,700 are planted to vine on predominantly basalt-based, volcanic, Jory soil.