Winemaker Notes
This is why Chardonnay is meant for the volcanic, east-facing hillside of Seven Springs Vineyard. To be more exact, Summum illustrates the laser-like precision from the rockier top half of 14 rows of Chardonnay planted almost three decades ago. The wine is elegance. Ripe tree fruit, white flowers, roasted hazelnut and flint are just the entry to a cuvée of volume and delicacy, concentration and well integrated oak in a svelte frame. It recalls the weightlessness and purity of a chiseled premier cru Meursault-Blagny. The finish hangs on, textured and long lasting. As is the life of this wine.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
The Summum Chardonnay from the Evening Land Seven Springs Estate is a thing of beauty. The aromatics of crushed slate, oyster shells and briny lemon peel offer an angularity that belies the wine's rich textured mouthfeel. The savoury elements continue to leap out at you, with briny notes of seafoam, salted lemon and brisk, piquant early-season nectarine flesh. The richness of the texture is constantly buoyed by the wealth of minerality in this delightful Chardonnay, showing why the Eola-Amity Hills offer some of the best terroir for the variety in the US.
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James Suckling
Full of energy and vibrancy, this expressive and layered chardonnay offers dried lemon, dried pineapple, spice, herb, lemon curd, seashell and umami character. The medium-bodied palate is smooth and finely textured, with gentle creaminess balanced by bright acidity and a lingering, minerally finish. So pure and delicious.
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Wine Enthusiast
There has to be a language where "summum" means "totally worth it." This majestic Chardonnay leads with a lemony magnolia aroma, then jabs with notes of toasted filberts, gunflint, butter and Golden Delicious apples. Vigorous acidity and a lithe texture accompany flavors like lemon curd, dragon fruit and lime zest. Extraordinary stuff.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Chardonnay Summum exhibits the highest intensity in the range, with notes of white peach, fresh pineapple, powdery floral perfume, and smoky earth. It offers structured and full-bodied richness, with a bright spine of acidity and a chalky texture that never loses focus and clarity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Chardonnay Summum has dramatically unfurling scents of matchstick, red apple, peach, roasted almonds and honey, becoming more expressive as it airs in the glass. The medium-bodied palate is brimming with concentrated, honeyed flavors. It’s balanced by fireworks of fresh acidity and has a very long, satiny finish. It’s a stunning iteration of Summum that should be long lived in the cellar.
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Wine Spectator
Richly detailed and dynamic, this white is effusive with apricot and pear flavors that are laced with stony mineral and lemon verbena tones as this finishes on a fragrant accent.
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.
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.