Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The less expensive label for Paul Hobbs is his Crossbarn label. He has done a magnificent job of elevating the quality of these wines, which are all made from purchased fruit. Take, for example, the Crossbarn 2014 Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast. There are over 16,000 cases of this wine, which is bone-dry. Ten percent is barrel-fermented, and the rest aged in steel, so it is essentially a naked style of Chardonnay, and the 2014 is just a beauty, with crisp acidity, notes of apple blossom, tangerine oil and honeyed lemons in an extroverted, beautifully pure and natural style. This is delicious, and a terrific value in Chardonnay to drink over the next few years.
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Tasting Panel
Smooth and silky with ripe pear and tropical fruit; juicy with depth and finesse, balanced and elegant.
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.