Winemaker Notes
Vinified from Abbey Ridge & Clos Electrique fruit, this is the best Chardonnay in its price range on the market. Lime leaf and orange blossom aromatics with a light touch of vanilla make me think of tarte au citron! A lovely rich mouth with some tartness and a long, mineral finish allows it to be both an aperitif while you're cooking and it will go with the meal afterward, though if you drink enough while you’re cooking, this latter point will be unimportant!
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.
Home of the first Pinot noir vineyard of the Willamette Valley, planted by David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard in 1966, today the Dundee Hills AVA remains the most densely planted AVA in the valley (and state). To its north sits the Chehalem Valley and to its south, runs the Willamette River. Within the region’s 12,500 acres, about 1,700 are planted to vine on predominantly basalt-based, volcanic, Jory soil.