Winemaker Notes
#57 James Suckling Top 100 Wines of the USA 2025
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A super lean, racy, mineral-driven wine, so fresh and linear and full of energy. Crisp green apples and lemon pith. Light-bodied and refreshing. At just 12% alcohol it's easy to sip and enjoy multiple glasses. Fermented in oak barrels with native yeast and native malolactic for a slightly smoother texture.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast is a bright straw color and is fresh and lifted with notes of delicate, flirty wet stones, white peach, fresh flowers, lemon zest, and salty earth. The palate is refreshing and even, with a medium-bodied frame, and it has a clean, mouthwatering, chalky texture, a good deal of length, and a fantastic finish. I love this wine – it’s just so energetic. It’s worth picking up a case to have on hand over the next 6-8 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Nervy aromas of tart pineapple and citrus dominate the nose of this zippy Chard, while flavors of green apple, nectarine, and tropical citrus come in waves across the palate, launched into hyperdrive by some punchy acids and a finish loaded with flavors of white flowers and salted lime peel.
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.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.