Winemaker Notes
Recommended pairing this with rich double and triple cream or goat cheeses. Perfect with just a few toasted nuts, it will also enhance simple to complex meals. Oysters, poultry and even meat dishes work well and trying it with oriental cuisine.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
This lovely blend of 58% Chardonnay and 42% Pinot Noir is impressive in its doughy, refined sensibilities and in its distinct aromas of apple and orange blossom. Bright strawberry rides atop layered acidity and enviable length, while the palate creamy and refined. This is a vegan wine.
Editor's Choice
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.