Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Smooth, juicy and fresh with depth and style; rich notes of toasty oak and lovely varietal intensity; elegant and refined with a long finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
From two vineyard sites, Martaella and Martinelli Frei Road, this lovely wine is built from the ground up, with elements of rich vanilla, toasted oak and baked pear. Big in style on the nose, it finishes crisp and focused, a mixture of complexity and lightness of being.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Sonoma Coast cuvée, the 2013 Chardonnay from Fort Ross-Seaview, shows more honeysuckle and tropical fruit and less minerality. The color is similar, although maybe slightly deeper light gold. The wine is medium to full-bodied with loads of fruit, refreshing acidity, and a judicious and subtle use of oak. This should drink well for another 5-6 years.
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.