Winemaker Notes
Enjoy with your favorite fish, shellfish, poultry, pork, or dishes that have a cream or butter base.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The Rosella's Vineyard in Santa Lucia Highlands is an excellent place for Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. The 2017 Alfaro Family Vineyards & Winery Chardonnay is impressive. TASTING NOTES: This wine is fulfilling and lively. Its aromas and flavors of mineral, bright fruit, and underlying oak should pair it well with shellfish in decadent cream sauces. (Tasted: August 19, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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 highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.