Winemaker Notes
Though Cristom is no stranger to Chardonnay, having produced the varietal since our founding in 1992, our Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay marks the joyful expansion of this wine program, both through collaboration with extraordinary winegrowers we're fortunate to call neighbors, as well as the increase of Chardonnay plantings on the Cristom Estate. Exhibiting an exquisite texture created by full malolactic fermentation in barrel, the 2019 Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay offers racy acidity with notes of white peach and Meyer lemon zest before delivering a lengthy, refreshing finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills is characterized by broad, intense flavors foiled by tangy acidity. It offers aromas of apple pie, honeycomb, toast and white blossoms and is intensely flavored, ripe and textural, finishing with energetic freshness.
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James Suckling
Pretty aromas of honeysuckle, white peach, lemon tart and flint. It’s full-bodied, yet bright, with tangy acidity. Textured and fleshy. Some spice and hay notes to close. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Wonderfully floral on the nose, sappy and rich on the palate, this expressive wine is packed with flavorful fruits perfectly set against tangy acidity. White peach, Asian pear and a touch of lime combine on a full-bodied midpalate. The juicy fruit flavors energize the wine and set the taster up for sip after sip.
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Wine & Spirits
Toasty with a lean oak frame, this smoky chardonnay’s aromas are mildly oaked at first. But the flavors are refreshing, lean and balanced, with an oyster-shell duskiness that suggests a pairing with shellfish, particularly seared scallops.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Cristom Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay is firm and muscular. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits aromas and flavors of ripe fruit and oaky notes. Enjoy it with lobster in a savory cream sauce. (Tasted: September 29, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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.
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.