Winemaker Notes
#65 James Suckling Top 100 Wines of the USA 2025
Aromas of fresh flowers, hay, key lime, yuzu, and pear on the nose lead to a beautifully balanced palate of green apple, lemon zest, ginger, and lychee. With a surprising mouthwatering complexity, its bright, crisp fruit, and searing minerality ride on a serious structure and generous effervescence.
Blend: 54% Chardonnay, 44% Pinot Noir, 2% Pinot Girs
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of green apples, flint, toast and lemon pith. The palate is vibrant, with striking acidity and a finely beaded mousse. Very minerally and stylish. A blend of 60% chardonnay and 40% pinot noir that spent 48 months in bottle before 4.5 g/L dosage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Gingery spice, lime zest and green apple notes mingle easily on the nose of the 2019 Estate Ultra Brut, which carries a refreshingly low dosage of five grams per liter. Medium-bodied, with a fine bead, this 60-40 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is focused, zesty and refreshing, probably best served as an apéritif or with oysters on the half shell.
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.