Winemaker Notes
This 2018 Chardonnay exhibits aromas of zesty lemon, pineapple, white peach, and lemon lime citrus. This captivating, sleek and graceful wine is rich and expressive, bright flavors of lemon, pineapple, white peach, nectarine and pear on the palate. Full-bodied, elegant and refined. Fresh, crisp and well-defined with a velvety and fabulous burst of fruiton the long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast spent 15 months in 30% new French oak. It's pure class, offering bright citrus and pineapple fruit as well as lots of white flowers, salty minerality, and just a touch of background oak. With racy acidity, beautiful purity and richness, and a big finish, this pure, balanced, awesome Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is going to keep for 10-15 years. Rating: 94+
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Wine Enthusiast
Quenching in crisp acidity while offering robustly opulent layers of pear and peach, this wine finds a happy balance through its undeniable richness, the oak well integrated and bursting in baking spice and vanilla bean.
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James Suckling
Apricot, cooked-apple, lemon-curd and cream aromas. Subtle toasty notes, too. It’s medium-to full-bodied with crisp acidity. Focused, mineral finish.
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Wine & Spirits
David W. Hejl, who heads up Wine Country Capital Partners, started his own label in 2010 after a long stint as the GM at Kosta Browne. He sources this fruit from the Ritchie Vineyard, producing a wine that’s as rich as white chocolate, with buttery vanilla and orange flavors in the midst of cool salinity and freshness.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast begins with touches of toast and gunflint, gradually giving up poached pears, cashews, chalk and hay aromas. The palate is bright and fresh with a touch of savoriness and a lifted finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Domaine Della Chardonnay shows excellent balance and style. TASTING NOTES: This wine is a full-flavored Sonoma Coast offering. Its aromas and flavors deftly combine ripe fruit and an accent oak in its aromas and flavors. Pair it with pan-fried butterfish.
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.