Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Chardonnay
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A bright yellow color, the 2023 Chardonnay Quartz Acorn Vineyard is expressive and has lovely clarity to its notes of fresh pineapples, honeycomb, poached lemon, and wet stones. It fills the palate with mouthwatering salinity, refreshing acidity, and a savory, pithy texture.
-
Vinous
Savory herbs and citrus zest give way to crushed green apples and nuances of flint as the 2023 Chardonnay Quartz Acorn Vineyard opens in the glass. The palate is round, with ripe pit fruits underscored by crisp mineral tones and a tinge of sour lime. This 2023 Chardonnay finishes with excellent length and concentration, finishing pleasantly chewy with a saline resonance. Patience will be required.
-
James Suckling
There is a lovely balance of fresh citrus and minerals on the nose, together with hints of salted nuts and orchard fruits. The palate is mid-weighted, showing bright acidity and a generous texture, finishing slightly saline with persistent energy. Drink or hold.
-
Wine Spectator
Sleek and vibrant, with layers of lemon, apple, spice and mineral notes that linger toward the pleasing finish. Drink now. 333 cases made.
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.
Yamhill-Carlton, characterized by pastoral, rolling hills composed of shallow, quick-draining, ancient marine soil, is ideal for Pinot noir and other cool-climate-loving varieties. It is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range to its west, whose highest point climbs to an altitude of 3,500 feet. Yamhill-Carlton is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides: Chehalem Mountains to the north, the Dundee Hills to the east and the western Coast Range to its west, which, when it lets Pacific air through, serves to cool the region.
Vineyards grow on the ridges surrounding the two small communities of Yamhill and Carlton and cover about 1,200 acres of this 60,000 acre region, which roughly makes a horse-shoe shape on a map.