Winemaker Notes
Glistening straw yellow with a faint green hue and fragrant aromas of white flower, Asian pear, and wet stone underpin the wine’s expression of its true Sonoma Coast roots. Alluring stone fruit flavors carry the palate along with hints of citrus and honeysuckle that evolve into a creamy mid-palate before ending in a long, clean finish with crisp acidity.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Green apples, pear drops, cooked apples and apricots. Medium-bodied with racy acidity, pretty stone fruit and a medium finish. Shows lovely acidity tension and a textured mouthfeel. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay opens with exuberant green guava, warm peaches and pineapple notions with touches of almond croissant and acacia honey. Medium to full-bodied, the concentrated palate is packed with tropical and stone fruit flavors with a pleasant oiliness to the texture and a long savory 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.