Winemaker Notes
Ideal plushness makes this wine admirable on its own, or as a companion to fresh greens, light fish, grilled chicken, or pesto dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This white opens with pretty flavors of peach cobbler and a note of wild fennel, accented by sweet cream hints and a touch of lemon mint, before the intense acidity swoops in and brightens up the flavors, adding a mouthwatering liveliness on the finish. Drink now. 995 cases made.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Lifted with ripe aromas of fresh peach, the 2021 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast is generous with orange peel citrus, delicate baking spice, and fresh white flowers. Medium-bodied, with snappy, refreshing acidity (but not austere), it offers notes of ripe green apple, vanilla custard, and lemon balm. This is a fresh and inviting white to drink now or over the next several years, and it offers great value.
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.