Winemaker Notes
Brilliant pale-yellow to white gold in color with mineral aromas leading to discreet floral notes, unripe peaches, nectarines, and a touch of sweet almonds. A lingering mélange of bright fruit, minerality and intense acidity provide a refreshing but weighty palate.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
A flinty edge here with aromas of fresh lemons, almonds and chalk. The palate has a sleek, juicy and fluid feel with plenty of deep-set lemons on offer. Good depth and balance here. Drink now.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay The Jester features pure aromas of golden apples, apricot, quince and floral perfume with accents of honeycomb and hazelnuts. The medium-bodied palate is fresh and citrus driven, gaining some savory nuance on the finish.
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.