Winemaker Notes
This is a vintage of the Coastview Chardonnay that expresses the terroir with beautiful purity and precision. The pale straw color is the first indication. On the nose, delicate floral aromatics mingle with hints of marzipan, and stone fruit. On the palate, the wine is intense and mouth filling on the entry, unfolding to reveal a dense mid palate and a long, long finish that gives one a chance to contemplate the delicate and beautiful character of this wine. This is a wine with impeccable balance - beautiful creamy mouthfeel, brilliant acidity that keeps it fresh, and complex and nuanced flavors on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Quite light in the glass, this bottling pops on the nose with complex and vibrant aromas of honeysuckle, lemon peel, sea salt, toast and marmalade. The palate starts with a pinpoint flavors of lemon sorbet before warmer touches of hazelnut, peach and oak lead into the finish.
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Vinous
The 2017 Chardonnay Coastview Vineyard is another very pretty wine in this range. Green orchard fruit, white flowers, mint and white pepper give the 2017 a distinctly high-toned profile. Medium in body and beautifully layered, the 2017 has so much to recommend it. Floral notes reappear on the finish, adding brightness.
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.
At elevations reaching well over 2,000 feet, the Mt. Harlan AVA in the Gabilan Range is an anomaly among its surrounding Central Coast appellations. Recognizing the splendor of the area and its ideal limestone-rich soils, Josh Jensen chose Mt. Harlan as the home of his Calera Wine Company in the 1970s. Awarded his own AVA in 1990, Calera is the only commercial winery in the appellation.