Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Last of the Chardonnay, the 2018 Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard offers lots of candied lemon and honeyed apple notes to go with medium to full-bodied richness, a rounded, layered texture, good concentration, and outstanding length. It develops more spice and brioche notes with time in the glass and is going to evolve for 4-6 years.
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Wine & Spirits
Blair Fox, winemaker at Fess Parker, is never shy about his oak regime, but in recent years, his wines have become brighter and more expressive. This 2018 is a case in point: With its subtle minerality and limey freshness—lime pith and juice and limestone dust—it’s a tense and graceful chardonnay
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Wine Enthusiast
Prominent aromas of pear flesh meet with a squeeze of lemon on the nose of this bottling from the historic vineyard. There is prominent acidity on the sip, where brisk lemon and grapefruit-peel flavors play against warmer tones of apple flesh.
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.