Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Another terrific year for this bottling, the 2020 Chardonnay CIX Estate—from Montrachet-selection budwood on vines planted in 2008, and matured in 75% new French oak—is lightly toasty, then tropical, with yellow peach, possibly even mango notes, balanced by bright, lime-like acids. It's full-bodied, creamy and rich, yet not heavy at all, with great energy and lift on the finish. Best After 2022.
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Wine Spectator
Complex, detailed and layered, with terrific intensity to the pineapple, mango and peach flavors, which are joined by details of salted butterscotch, dried fennel, star anise, mineral and honeycomb. Packs plenty of juiciness on the long, expressive finish that just goes on and on. Drink now.
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.