Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Restrained on the nose, this bottling by Richard Sanford and Nick de Luca shows light aromas of Marcona almond, lemon zest, Asian pear and Gravenstein apple. The sip is delicate in texture yet grippy with tannic structure, revealing pear flesh and squeezed lime flavors.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills offers up notes of buttered orchard fruit, guava, toasted macadamia nut and petrol, framed by light reduction. On the palate, the wine is glossily textural on the attack, with nice mid-palate depth and amplitude, succulent acids and a precise, honeyed and flavorful finish. This is an attractively balanced and characterful Chardonnay. It's also a very good value.
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.