Winemaker Notes
Planted in 1971, Sanford & Benedict is the most storied vineyard we work with. Its unique combination of rocky soils and cool climate makes dark and brooding wines that still have elegance and minerality. This chardonnay comes entirely from the old vines.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from one of the top sites in the Sta. Rita Hills, the 2020 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard spent 15 months in 20% new French oak. A brilliant effort, it reveals pure, crisp notes of orchard fruits, chalky minerality, honeyed flowers, and brioche. These carry to a medium-bodied Chardonnay that stays tight and compact on the palate, with good mid-palate density, integrated yet high acidity, and a distinct salinity and minerality on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard has soft scents of panna cotta, Meyer lemon, crushed almonds and beeswax, with additional nuances emerging as it spends time in the glass. Medium-bodied and silky with bright bursts of acidity, it features creamy citrus fruits and a touch of texture that draws out the finish. Best after 2022.
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Wine Enthusiast
Soft nectarine and elegant yellow apple aromas are sprinkled with salt, lime zest and chalk on the nose of this bottling. It's lively and lemony on the palate, where a tense structure and energetic acidity deliver refreshing stone fruit flavors before a nuttier finish.
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Wine & Spirits
Gavin Chanin has been working with older blocks at Sanford & Benedict since 2012; if there was ever a chardonnay vineyard deserving of Chanin’s low impact winemaking, this is it. There’s a directness of expression here that inspires: The fruit character—made savory by toasted lees and an earthy overlay—is pure, unadorned, just-ripe pear and a bit of caramel. The texture is broad and firm, with a natural concentration that is a ‘tell’ for old vines in good hands, reposing in a lacy structure. It went into the bottle balanced; keep a few of those bottles on hand to open in three, or even five years.
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 superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.