Winemaker Notes
This wine shows bright apple, pear and citrus fruit flavors complemented by attractive mineral notes with vanilla and toasty oak notes from French oak aging.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Tart and ashy aromas of yellow apple, lemon peel and grapefruit zest make for a racy nose on this bottling. There's a great textural edge to the palate, where lemon pith and crisp acidity cuts through broad nectarine and salty almond flavors.
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Wine Spectator
Shows generous candied orange peel, pear, Fuji apple and pineapple notes, but there's also an appealing thread of sea salt minerality. Reveals light, fresh acidity that highlights the flavors and creates appealing tension and vibrancy on the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Chardonnay Ashley's is in the same ballpark quality-wise, offering a more floral, elegant style as well as pretty peach and citrus fruits, medium-bodied richness, terrific balance, and a great finish. This comes all from the Rancho Las Hermana Vineyard and was fermented and aged in 31% new French oak.
Established in 1989, Fess Parker Winery is a multi-generational family owned and operated winery that has a rich heritage in Santa Barbara County. Fess Parker produces premium, small-lot, vineyard designated Burgundian varietals from the Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley as well as Rhône varietals from their organically farmed, SIP Certified estate vineyard.
Outstanding fruit sources, including some of the finest vineyards in the county, coupled with skilled winemaking, led by Blair Fox, form the foundation for the winery’s success. Now three generations in, the Fess Parker Family is proud to carry on Fess’s legacy of wine heritage and hospitality in Santa Barbara.
Fess Parker Winery was proud to be named a Top 100 Winery in the World by Wine & Spirits Magazine in both 2022 and 2023.
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 superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.