Liquid Farm La Hermana Chardonnay 2017
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Wine &
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Papaya, caramelized pineapple, sweet cream on the nose. Flint, passion fruit, chalk, pink lady apple, citrus peel, and more tropical fruits on the palate. Neutral oak lends to the nice round mouthfeel of the wine without imparting flavor.
Pair with halibut or scallop crudo and perhaps some pasta alla vongole.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
La Hermana blends Bien Nacido and Solomon Hills vineyard fruit, roughly half and half. It’s biscuity and stylish, with scents of hazelnuts and lees, and oak notes that are demonstrative but not overbearing. It also has plenty of golden apple flavor, its chewy succulence driven by fine acidity.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Chardonnay La Hermana comes from a site in the Santa Maria Valley and was raised all in neutral oak. It has a rounded, balanced, medium-bodied style as well as plenty of caramelized stone fruits, honeycomb, and toasted bread notes. It shows the richer style of the estate yet has good acidity and a rounded, layered texture.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 La Hermana Chardonnay begins with dried hay and mushroom aromas, opening to acacia, honey, toast, baked apple, crushed stone and peachy hints. Medium-bodied with a lightly creamy texture, it has great intensity of savory fruit with fresh acidity and a long finish.
Other Vintages
2022-
Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck
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Jeb
Dunnuck
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Jeb
Dunnuck
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Wine
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Wine
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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 lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.