Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
There are nine barrels of the 2019 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard, which comes from one of the top sites in the whole Central Coast. Revealing a medium gold hue as well as lots of orchard and ripe lemon fruits, it's medium to full-bodied and has classic Bien Nacido salinity, subtle toasty and nutty nuances, a solid spine of acidity, and a great, great finish. This brilliant, gorgeous Chardonnay does everything right, and I'd put it up with the crème de la crème of the vintage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard comes from the old vines planted in 1973. The nose features roasted almonds, saline and dark spices with golden apples, lemon confit and creme fraiche. The palate is silky, saline-tinged and ultra fresh, with notable intensity, purity, polish and length. Lovely! Rating : 95+. Best after 2022.
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Wine & Spirits
Chanin’s Bien Nacido bottling is tense, terse, and lean, with scents of mixed nuts and lemon, and a texture that feels tangy and balanced. It’s a long way from peak expression, destined for the cellar.
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 lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.