Winemaker Notes
Myrna combines Bald Mountain’s surprisingly delicate floral notes that move quickly to ripe yellow and more exotic fruits with salty, lime, and green fruit-inflected notes from Thornton. The sappy texture of the wine makes its presence felt, and this grows into a more defined and powerful structure with layers of spice persisting through the finish, with a beautiful clear lift.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A polished, minerally chardonnay with sliced apple, lemon rind and some stone and flint. Laurel and other herbs, too. It’s medium-to full-bodied with a creamy texture and balance. Phenolic texture. Lively and stony. From mountain vineyards in Sonoma and Mount Veeder. Nice debut wine. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
High-toned and floral, this wine offers a generous mouthfeel of salty oak, mineral and wet stone. The elegant fruit profile combines pear, apple and Meyer lemon with ease, complementing the body weight with ample acidity.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Far Mountain Myrna Chardonnay offers full and satisfying density. TASTING NOTES: This wine excels with aromas and flavors of dried earth, ripe fruit, and full oakiness. Enjoy it with grilled shellfish in cream sauces. (Tasted: July 18, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
Far Mountain is based on the belief that some of the greatest potential for wine in California – and anywhere in the world – exists in remote pockets in the mountains of the Sonoma Valley. The growers the winery works with have taken decades of risks in both planting their vineyards and the farming choices they make today. The winery’s work is to channel the drama of these surroundings into wines that dazzle with energy and stand out immediately. Wines that bring a sheer pleasure in their flavors and textures, as well as unfold slowly, with never ending detail and fascination. It is a specific vision, literally chiseled by the landscape.
In 2025, Vinous named Far Mountain an "Emerging Producer to Watch."
"Far Mountain is one of the most exciting new projects in California. Mai Errazuriz and Rodrigo Soto source from top sites in Sonoma Valley and Moon Mountain to craft distinctive wines imbued with strong old-school California influences. Errazuriz most recently was Marketing Director for Paul Hobbs, while Soto was the Estate Director at Quintessa. Both have recently left the stability of those jobs to pursue their own American dream at Far Mountain. Early efforts have shown great promise. Based on what I have tasted thus far, the best is yet to come. Readers who appreciate classically inspired California wines will want to check out Far Mountain while it remains under the radar."
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.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.