Winemaker Notes
The nose of this 2018 Chardonnay, the first vintage sourced exclusively from the estate, draws you in with a stylish flintiness and aromas of sweet Meyer lemon, pea tendrils, and a hint of honeysuckle. Scents of Asian pear carry through to the palate, mingling with lemon curd, yellow peach, and brioche. This sleek, taut, acid driven wine evolves in the glass and will continue to develop with cellaring.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is the first estate-grown Chardonnay from Robert Brittan, and as you’d expect from this master winemaker, it’s a doozy. The influence of 15% new French oak is felt but not overwhelming, and the clean apple, peach and citrus fruit bursts open with exhilarating freshness. There’s a whiff of flint also, and a seam of honeysuckle. This clearly has long-term aging potential. Drink through 2032.
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Wine & Spirits
Robert Brittan’s Estate Chardonnay is a paradox, with a nutty, lemon-frosting scent that makes the wine read sweet, as do the candy apple flavors. But the texture is remarkably taut and lean, while its sliced apple notes are held by a firm phenolic frame. Give it six months to resolve a bit.
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.
One of Pinot Noir's most successful New World outposts, the Willamette Valley is the largest and most important AVA in Oregon. With a continental climate moderated by the influence of the Pacific Ocean, it is perfect for cool-climate viticulture and the production of elegant wines.
Mountain ranges bordering three sides of the valley, particularly the Chehalem Mountains, provide the option for higher-elevation vineyard sites.
The valley's three prominent soil types (volcanic, sedimentary and silty, loess) make it unique and create significant differences in wine styles among its vineyards and sub-AVAs. The iron-rich, basalt-based, Jory volcanic soils found commonly in the Dundee Hills are rich in clay and hold water well; the chalky, sedimentary soils of Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton and McMinnville encourage complex root systems as vines struggle to search for water and minerals. In the most southern stretch of the Willamette, the Eola-Amity Hills sub-AVA soils are mixed, shallow and well-drained. The Hills' close proximity to the Van Duzer Corridor (which became its own appellation as of 2019) also creates grapes with great concentration and firm acidity, leading to wines that perfectly express both power and grace.
Though Pinot noir enjoys the limelight here, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay also thrive in the Willamette. Increasing curiosity has risen recently in the potential of others like Grüner Veltliner, Chenin Blanc and Gamay.