Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Just as good, the 2018 Chardonnay Platt Vineyard, from a site in the Sonoma Coast, saw a similar élevage, spending 11 months in 15% new French oak. Rocking white peach, white currants, citrus, and floral notes all emerge from the glass, and while the Estate Vineyard is more mineral and savory, this leans more on its fruit and is medium to full-bodied, with wonderful purity, bright acidity, and a great finish. It's another beautiful Chardonnay from this team.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Chardonnay Platt Vineyard has a nose of yellow apples, citrus peel, baker's yeast and hints of dried herbs. The light-bodied palate offers mineral-laced, crunchy fruits with tangy acidity and an uplifted, yeasty 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.