Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Wet stones, flint, white flowers and white peaches on the nose. The palate is very refined, with nice fruit and oak integration and flavors of green cardamom, lime zest and citrus blossoms. Good concentration and length at just 13.1% alcohol.
-
Wine Spectator
Theres an appealingly dense, fleshy quality to the ripe apricot, melon and lemon curd flavors and firm acidity, with notes of ginger, lime leaf and lemon sherbet that linger, gaining extra torque on the crisp finish. Drink now. 208 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.
On the far western edge of the larger Sonoma Coast appellation, the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA hugs right up against the Pacific coast. Vineyards, planted at rugged elevations between 920 to 1,800 feet, occupy only two percent of the total land in the AVA. Fort Ross-Seaview growers believe that the region boasts an ideal mix of sunshine, cool air and beneficial stress for producing high quality Chardonnay and Pinot noir.