Winemaker Notes
This elegant white wine exhibits aromas of lemon, kiwi, orange blossom, and sweet basil. Jasmine, lime, ginger and minerality are balanced on the palate by notes of orange zest and fresh sea salt.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Leading off the Chardonnay, the 2020 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills offers a gorgeous perfumed of orange blossom, honeyed almonds, brioche, and lemon oil. Rich, medium to full-bodied, and concentrated, with great acidity and a distinct sense of minerality on the palate, this thrilling, deep, layered, singular Chardonnay will keep for over a decade.
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James Suckling
So much energy and brightness to this with sliced lemon and lightly ripe apple. Lime and fresh ginger. Salty. Rich and ripe yet taut on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills begins with a touch of matchstick reduction, requiring plenty of aeration. It unfolds slowly to warm white peaches and singular wafts of lychee and dried tarragon, an intriguing interplay of exoticism and savory reduction. The palate is still youthfully coiled with linear acidity, anchoring texture and an evolving finish that hints at more to come. Give it a few years in bottle to unwind. Best after 2022.
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Wine Spectator
Shows a concentrated and mouthwatering mix of pineapple, ruby grapefruit and yuzu fruit flavors, with notes of crunchy Honeycrisp apple, saline and matcha lingering on the finish. Drink now.
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.