Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the whites, the 2016 Chardonnay Zotovich Family Vineyard comes from a terrific site in the Sta. Rita Hills and spent 15 months in 25% new French oak. It has a ripe, classic bouquet of stone fruits, toasted nuts, brioche, and white flowers, and it has a sensational Montrachet-like vibe that keeps you coming back to the glass. Rich, medium-bodied, with integrated acidity, some background oak, and a great finish, it's an age-worthy Chardonnay that will benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for 15 years or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chardonnay Zotovich Family Vineyard opens to scents of toast, crushed almonds, clover honey, bruised apple and lemon pith with an undercurrent of crushed shell and saline and hints of white flowers. The palate is light to medium-bodied, bright, lively and tensile, fleshing out to glorious pistachio and honey notes and finishing long, juicy and minerally.
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Wine Enthusiast
Light guava-skin aromas meet with pineapple, while a restraining sense of citrus pith and rind show on the nose of this bottling. There is a compelling toasty quality to the palate, cut by lemon juice acidity that leads into a slightly buttery 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 superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.