Winemaker Notes
Tucked within several acres of Pinot Noir at Doc's Ranch, JoAnn's Block features one acre of Clone 5 Chardonnay. Doc's is right next door to Coastlands, only 3 miles from the ocean, making it one of the westerly most planted vineyards on the Sonoma Coast. With its extreme proximity to the Pacific, JoAnn's block consistently yields the most electric and concentrated Chardonnay within the portfolio.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A bright straw color, the 2022 Chardonnay Doc's Ranch Vineyard-Joann's Block is sunny and ripe with fruity aromas of melon, ripe peach, wet stone, smoky earth, honeysuckle, and some savory notes of dewy earth. Full-bodied, it fills the palate with a salty and brothy feel, balanced with attractive ripe fruit and a supple, rounded finish with delicate oak spice. It’s both approachable and intriguing to drink over the next 7-8 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Chardonnay Doc's Ranch Vineyard Joann's Block was barrel-fermented and matured for 22 months in around 10% new French oak. It has very pretty aromas of matchstick, pear liqueur, peaches, bread dough, white pepper and beeswax. The palate is expansive and satiny with perfumed flavors balanced by mouthwatering acidity, and it has a long, layered 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.
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.