Winemaker Notes
Intricately woven aromas of citrus, lavender, and crème brûlée. A round, yet precisely structured palate with captivating acidity and a profound depth with notes of kiwi, Meyer lemon, and baking spice.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The Russian River Valley is home to many of my favorite Chardonnays. The 2022 Kosta Browne One-Sixteen is a stunning wine. This wine showcases aromas and flavors of fragrant garden leaves, delicate spices, and alluring peach skin. Enjoy it with a lavish meal of lobster with butter or cream sauce. (Tasted: April 15, 2025, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
Expressive aromas of preserved lemons, lime zest, flint and river stones. The palate is medium-bodied with bright acidity and a creamy texture, giving notes of orchard fruit, grapefruit, yellow apples and pastry. A good balance of power and finesse.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A bright yellow/silver hue, the 2022 Chardonnay One-Sixteen is a blend from across vineyards of the Russian River Valley and offers nicely detailed ripe aromas of lemon curd, beeswax, fresh flowers, and poached apples. The palate is supple and full-bodied, with good freshness of acidity that lifts its more sweetly noted fruit, and it has a clean, refreshing feel on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
A bold expression of Chardonnay, offering succulent notes of butterscotch, grilled peach, lemon curd and mango puree. Smooth and creamy, with sleek acidity, plus accents of orange blossoms, lemon zest, tangerine and ginger. Mouthwatering finish. Drink now. 3,700 cases made.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.