Winemaker Notes
This is an elegant Chardonnay that displays fresh, bright aromatics of lime peel, guava, beeswax and lemon zest backed by hints of honeysuckle and jasmine. Flavors of key lime pie coat the palate with a hint of hazelnut, and its minerality is nicely balanced with soft acidity. Enjoy it paired with salmon carpaccio drizzled with avocado oil and sprinkled with capers or with a coconut chicken curry with topped with chopped almonds, but it is best with a giant hunk of Humbolt Fog cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard Block UU is a regal, elegant wine. Citrus, white flowers, mint, white pepper and jasmine are all finely cut in mid-weight, racy Chardonnay that captures all the best this challenging year had to offer. Beautifully textured, with fine balance and real pedigree, the UU is superb.
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Wine Enthusiast
There's a steely minerality to the nose of this bottling alongside lime pith, jicama, white flower and Asian pear aromas. The palate is brisk, tightly wound and refreshing with crisp pear and lime flavors.
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Wine & Spirits
This feels rich in its lees and caramel scents. The flavors have some pineapple depth, with a tense lemony edge, the finish clean and citrusy after that creamy textural heft in the middle.
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 lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.