Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Starting out with the appellation Chardonnay, which was bottled in June of last year, the 2016 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast sees a shorter élevage as well as a smaller percentage of new oak. It’s a terrific Chardonnay that has clean, classy, layered notes of orchard fruits, pineapple, and citrus, with hints of leafy herbs. It’s a great introduction to the wines of this estate.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chardonnay Estate is scented of lemon tart, grapefruit and white peaches with an orange blossoms and allspice undercurrent. Medium-bodied, elegant and refreshing in the mouth, it has great intensity of citrus flavors and a satiny texture, finishing long and perfumed.
Rating: 91+
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.