Winemaker Notes
Tropical fruits like pineapple and a bit of guava, green apple, oak spice. Soft creamy mouthfeel, punctuated by bright acidity and a crisp finish. Walks the line between pure stainless steel fermented, leaner Chardonnay and the fat, buttery barrel-fermented style.
Very food compatible with chicken, pork or fish.
Blend: 78% Chardonnay, 11% Viognier, 5% Malvasia, 3% Marsanne, 3% Roussanne
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2024 Carol Shelton Wines Wild Thing Chardonnay is soulful and expressive, offering aromas and flavors of savory baking spices, sun-warmed peaches, and a gentle hint of earthiness. On the palate, it’s lush yet balanced, unfolding with layers of fruit and spice that carry through to a lingering, graceful finish. A natural partner for grilled chicken legs and thighs, where the wine’s texture and spice beautifully mirror the char and savor of the dish. (Tasted: September 24, 2025, Santa Rosa, CA)
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 to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.