Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Earthy, Corton-Charlemagne-like, and substantial is the tightly-knit, beautifully-textured blockbuster 2001 Chardonnay Melville Vineyard (1,440 bottles). Extremely French-like with good minerality as well as underlying acidity, tremendous texture, enormous weight, and persistence on the palate, its earthy minerality, unlike most California wines, speaks of terroir. This 2001 requires 12-18 months of bottle age, and should have a fascinating evolution over the following decade.
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Wine Spectator
Intense and concentrated, with rich white peach, nectarine, peach pit and earthy, chalky, minerally flavors that give it a very distinctive character, which is highly unusual in California.
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 superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.