Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
This wine is sourced from just below the peak of Bald Mountain, one of the highest points between Napa and Sonoma. A dry-farmed selection of California heritage clones and the winemaking duo of Mai Errazuriz and Rodrigo Soto. It shows the compelling nature of mountain terroir in Chardonnay. Aromatics of roasted chamomile, ripe pears, and a nuanced note of lanolin and beeswax introduce a subtlety to this wine. The palate offers a beguiling complexity, ripe pomme fruits, bruised apples, and salty sea air minerality, giving it a depth and sauvage edge along with its Meyer lemon and lemon verbena concentration.
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James Suckling
Cooked apple with hints of caramel and flint as well as stone. A touch of nougat. Medium to full body with a firmness and fine creamy texture. Crunchy fruit at the end. Very minerally with hints of lees stirring that gives it energy and stature.
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Vinous
The 2021 Chardonnay Myrna is a potent wine from Far Mountain. Dry-farmed vines in the Bald Mountain vineyard yield an especially deep, savory Chardonnay typical of sites in Sonoma Valley at elevation. Readers will find a complex, dynamic wine full of earthy, mineral complexity more than forward fruit. Dried pear, sage, crushed rocks and chamomile linger on the resonant finish. This is a serious Chardonnay for the dinner table.
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Wine Enthusiast
Bright and focused mountain fruit is on display here from a dry farmed vineyard at high elevation. Meyer lemon, white flowers, river rocks and tangerine aromas on the nose give way to a palate driven by citrus, minerality and acidity before an energetic finish.
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Wine Spectator
A succulent mix of peach, apricot, grilled pineapple and marmalade notes mingles with fresh, vibrant and juicy acidity. Details of orange blossoms, toasted sesame seed and salted butterscotch linger on the long, expressive finish. Drink now. 2,800 cases made.
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.