Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Oyster shell and mother of pearl and dried apple. Some lemon undertones. Full body, very dense and powerful. Complex. The finish just melts. Exciting white.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Chardonnay Cix Estate, also from a Montrachet clone planted on Goldridge soils, displays plenty of peach, apricot, caramelized apples, citrus blossom and wet stones in a full-bodied, powerful, rich and pure, precise style. This is another beauty from 2013 that should easily age for 10+ years.
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Wine Spectator
Richly aromatic, with a riveting mix of peach and citrus blossom flavors and white peach, lemon, grapefruit, green apple and hon- eydew notes, ending with a kiss of wet stone and toasty oak that’s so subtle you have to pay attention to catch it.
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.
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.