Winemaker Notes
Pale gold color with a green hue, this Chardonnay opens with a nose of Bartlett pear, honeydew melon, and almond paste. The streamlined palate is elegant with flavors of apple, lemon curd, nougat, honeycomb, and sea salt with the finish revealing balanced creaminess and a minerality indicative and prized as a nod to the soil of its origin.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Bright minerality and petrichor aromas, full of lemon zest and candied orange peel character. Zippy and resinous on the palate.
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Wine Enthusiast
Steely in mouthfeel, this vibrant mineral- and acid-driven wine from Ondine Chattan showcases the bright side of Chardonnay's fruit spectrum, with lime juice and Granny Smith apples meeting subtle butter and vanilla notes on the palate and finish.
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James Suckling
This is nicely done with cooked pear, peach and apple, and hints of flint and wood. Some spearmint, too. It’s full-bodied with a creamy, round-textured palate. Dried yogurt. Fresh finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from Knights Valley, the 2021 Atelier Ilaria Chardonnay reveals beautiful stone fruits, pear, honeyed flowers, and spice notes, with subtle crushed stone minerality in the background. Medium-bodied, balanced, and elegant on the palate, it shows a seamless mouthfeel and impressive purity, with its 40% new French oak beautifully integrated.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.