Winemaker Notes
The 2020 El Jabali Chardonnay has a pretty, bright gold color. In the glass, it has notes off mellow jasmine, white flowers and a hint of herbs. On the palate, refreshing notes of lemon cream, soft minerality, and white flowers are followed by expressive bright acidity that gives an appealing long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Chardonnay El Jabalí Vineyard offers perfumed peach on the nose with touches of lemon meringue, spring butter and acacia. Matured in 45% new French oak, the palate is medium-bodied, rounded and creamy with a generous core of fruit and mouthwatering acidity. It finishes long with lots of flavor and spice.
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a site in the Sta. Rita Hills, the 2020 Chardonnay El Jabali Vineyard gives up a terrific bouquet of spiced tart peach, lemon curd, white flowers, and honeyed minerality. This juicy, medium-bodied, supple, beautifully balanced Chardonnay is ideal for drinking over the coming 5-6 years.
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Wine Spectator
Well-built, with a solid core of blackberry and mulberry fruit flavors that move along steadily, inlaid with light briar, wood spice and anise notes. The finish is marked with energetic, nicely integrated acidity.
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Wine Enthusiast
Honeyed aromas of toasted cashew, cantaloupe balls and lemon bar make for a ripe nose on this estate bottling. The palate is crisper and cleaner, offering stonefruit and wet stone flavors.
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 superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.