Winemaker Notes
The 2019 Arthur is joyously fresh and fragrant, with the intricacy and detail of spring blossoms. Here, clarity of flavor and balanced precision are front and center, lifting the pure chardonnay expression effortlessly from the glass. One finds aromatic notes of Anjou pear, green apple blossom, cardamom and coriander. Refinement and elegance follow through on the palate, all wrapped in a very fine texture. Enjoy now, but I expect this Arthur to age beautifully for the next 5-7 years.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay Arthur is pure, precise and extraordinarily pretty this vintage, with expressive key lime, pencil lead and saline aromas, plus wafts of spring flowers and beeswax. The stunning palate combines creamy texture and fresh tang, gently honeyed fruits and citrusy uplift, which make for a very long, energetic finish. It's the best iteration of the Arthur cuvée I've tried.
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James Suckling
Baked apples, spiced pears, lemon pie, white flowers, nougat and nutmeg on the nose. It’s full-bodied with crisp acidity and seamless, elegant layers of ripe stone and citrus fruit. Hints of stones and blanched almonds to close.
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Wine Enthusiast
Bright and elegantly structured, with floral apple and lemon accents that glide on the long, steely finish. Drink now.
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Wine & Spirits
Rich and round, this is packed with juicy apple and nutty lees flavor. There’s a curious spice note, like turmeric, rendering the finish lean, slightly dusty, and on point for a wild mushroom pasta.
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.
Home of the first Pinot noir vineyard of the Willamette Valley, planted by David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard in 1966, today the Dundee Hills AVA remains the most densely planted AVA in the valley (and state). To its north sits the Chehalem Valley and to its south, runs the Willamette River. Within the region’s 12,500 acres, about 1,700 are planted to vine on predominantly basalt-based, volcanic, Jory soil.