Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Bright, brisk and satisfying in its punch of fresh fruit, this is simple, luscious and delicious. It’s lemony with lasting peppery spice. For chicken with spaetzle.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Bouchaine Estate Carneros Chardonnay is nicely-built and lasting on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine brings classic aromas and flavors of ripe core fruit, sandalwood, savory spices, and oak to the fore. Pair it with pan-fried crab cakes. (Tasted: March 9, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
This juicy white is filled with lithe, contoured tropical fruit flavors that show notes of beeswax and brioche. Unctuous midpalate, with a long finish that is plush and richly spiced. Drink now through 2024. 3,500 cases made.
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.