Winemaker Notes
Impressive pale-yellow, dry-straw color. Bright and fresh aromas of honeydew and ripe apple. A smooth mouthfeel and texture frame expressive flavors of white nectarine and grilled peach. Pleasant and juicy, soft and well-coated on the palate. Strikes a balance with crisp acidity and ripe finish.
This Chardonnay will pair beautifully with grilled grilled swordfish with tomatoes, parsley, and lemon, roasted herb chicken, pasta alfredo, chicken tikka masala and blue cheese or Bleu d'Auvergne.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This wine’s sapid fruit edges toward the red hues of a peach, with toasty notes of sesame and a cool crunchiness, like seaweed, lending structure to its fruit. There’s a fresh nuttiness in the end, for chicken or gamier birds braised with apricots.
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James Suckling
Grassy on the nose with notes of pink and yellow grapefruit, rosemary and cinnamon, too. Medium-bodied with a silky texture. Bright and refreshing on the palate with a bit of white pepper coming in at the finish.
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.
Surrounded by redwood forests and often blanketed in chilly, ocean fog, the Anderson Valley is one of California’s most picturesque appellations. During the growing season, moist, cool, late afternoon air flows in from the Pacific Ocean along the Navarro River and over the valley's golden, oak-studded hills. High and low temperatures can vary as much as 40 or 50 degrees within a single day, allowing for slow and gentle ripening of grapes, which will in turn create elegantly balanced wines.
The Anderson Valley is best known for Pinot Noir made in a range of styles from delicate and floral to powerful and concentrated. Chardonnay also shines here, and both varieties are often utilized for the production of some of California’s best traditional method sparkling wines. The region also draws inspiration from Alsace and produces excellent Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.