Winemaker Notes
This vibrant wine delivers a bold citrus punch. Layers of oak, macadamia nuts, and vanilla are followed by lemon zest. Notes of grapefruit, kumquat, and yuzu linger throughout the palate. Its high acidity harmonizes beautifully with the influence of new French oak, promising endless aging potential.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Chardonnay Nuits-Blanches Au Bouge is another serious white. Coming from the Bien Nacido Vineyard just outside of Santa Maria and aged all in new oak, its medium gold hue is followed by impressive aromatics of ripe stone fruits, spicy oak, lemon curd, and honeyed white flowers. These carry to a medium-bodied Chardonnay with solid mid-palate depth and concentration, beautiful precision and focus, integrated acidity, and outstanding length. It needs 2-3 years in the cellar, and I suspect it will evolve gracefully over the following 10-15 years. It's one of those Santa Maria Chardonnays that will stand up to a great Meursault.
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 lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.