Winemaker Notes
The 2017 Casteel Chardonnay exemplifies this as much or more than any Chardonnay in their portfolio, providing both the tension their site provides so well but also the generosity of a warm vintage.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay Casteel is scented of yellow peaches, quince paste, jasmine, spring honey and hazelnuts with hints of lime peel and crushed stone. Medium-bodied and silky, the palate is tensile and energetic, with tangy acidity to oppose the luscious texture and ripe fruits, finishing very long and layered. This is so classy—effortlessly traversing the tightrope of ripeness and precision. Yes!
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James Suckling
There’s a wealth of complexity and impressive, concentrated fruit here. Aromas of pears and baked apples, as well as lime, lead to a palate with smooth and alluringly fleshy build and concentrated, melon and spiced-pear flavors. So smooth and impressively long. Drink over the next five years.
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Wine Enthusiast
This barrel-fermented reserve has a spicy mix of aromas, with hints of mint and menthol, along with cedar plank notes from the barrels. It needs aggressive decanting if you plan to drink it soon, so that those barrel flavors are fully integrated. But when put all together with the lush mix of stone fruits and balancing acids, this is a deep, dense, splendid example of top-tier Oregon Chardonnay.
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Wine Spectator
Plush and vibrant with baked pear, lemon and stony mineral tones that gain richness on a long finish.
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.
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.