Winemaker Notes
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.
Part of the Coquimbo region, also with the Limari Valley, Elqui Valley is one of the northern wine producing regions of Chile, which historically focused on table grapes and pisco production. Intense sunlight and cooling effects of the ocean, together with rocky, clay soil make this one of Chile’s up-and-coming wine regions.