Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This winery's Chardonnays are simply outstanding, from top to bottom. And as the least expensive in the range, this bottling is one to stockpile by the case. Sleek, supple and dense, it matches immaculate stone fruit flavors to bright acidity and pretty barrel toast. Balanced, rich and penetrating, it stands up nicely to wines that cost three times as much.
Editors' Choice -
James Suckling
This shows lots of apple pie, mangoes and peaches and even some petrol. Very full and intense, the acidity manages to hold things together and keep this fresh and clean if ripe.
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.