TOR Durell Vineyard Cuvee Mimi Chardonnay 2018
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Robert
Parker -
Wilfred
Wong -
Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Durell Vineyard Chardonnay exhibits rich heavy cream, wet hay/grass and magnolia blossoms aromatically. The palate is completely seamless with medium to full weight, Meyer lemon, intently young early press EVOO and a seemingly endless finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Coming from the “Sand Hill” part of the Durell vineyard, looking down on the Sonoma Valley, the soil here is Goulding clay loam, mixed with diatomaceous earth. TOR favors the Wente clone plantings in this vineyard, which is a selection of plant material that sets a small crop with small berries. The result is a high skin-to-flesh ratio and intense flavors. The single new barrel cooper used is Saury. A barrel sample, the 2018 Tor Chardonnay Durell Vineyard delivers provocative lemonade, lime leaves, pink grapefruit and white peach notes with suggestions of pie crust, marzipan and oyster shells. Medium to full-bodied, the palate explodes with citrus and stone fruit layers, backed up with a racy line, finishing long with an enticing saline suggestion.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 TOR Durrell Vineyard "Cuvée Mimi" Chardonnay packs outstanding depth and energy. TASTING NOTES: This exceptional wine offers attractive aromas and flavors of ripe peach skin and oak. Enjoy its layers of nuances with lobster in a decadent cream sauce. (Tasted: February 20, 2020, Yountville, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
This site always yields wines with terrific aromatics, and the 2018 Chardonnay Durell Vineyard doesn’t disappoint, showing perfume notes of white peach, pineapple, sappy herbs, and spring flowers. These carry to a medium-bodied Chardonnay that has a light, ethereal style, nicely integrated acidity, and a great finish. This cuvée is all from the Wente clone and was fermented and aged in barrel.
Barrel Sample: 92-94
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.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.