Winemaker Notes
A bright and balanced wine with vibrant aromatics of baked apple, white nectarine, and toasted oak. A lively entry of tropical fruit and citrus expands with notes of rich lemon curd and brioche bread pudding. Ample yet refined, this unmistakably Carneros wine finishes with a refreshing wave of acidity.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A Wine Spectator Top 10 Value of 2024
If you find a winery that makes terrific single-vineyard expressions of Chardonnay, chances are that they also make a regional blend that’s a bit easier to find, carrying a more affordable price tag and representing a house style that’s consistent from year to year. Enter Frank Family Vineyards. Winemaker Todd Graff has made excellent Carneros Chardonnays from Lewis Vineyard and Beckstoffer Lake Vineyard. This stunning wine blends as many as 20 different sites, all from the Sonoma side of Carneros, including Las Amigas, and various blocks grown by the Sangiacomo family, including Green Acres and Catarina. Graff explains that the grapes are preselected for the regional blend from the get-go and are all treated the same before the final blending. Undergoing long, cool fermentations and plenty of lees stirring, they are barrel-fermented—a third in new French oak barrels and a third each in once- and twice-filled barrels—then aged for nine months before bottling.
Since the founding of the winery in 1992, Frank Family Vineyards has poured their passion for land, grape growing and winemaking into each and every bottle of Frank Family Vineyards wine. Today they own over 450 acres of the finest vineyard land checkerboarded throughout the Napa Valley. This allows them to control quality and cultivate sustainably on their own estate and enables winemaker, Todd Graff, to blend perfectly balanced wines. With a commitment to crafting the finest representation of Napa Valley wines, Frank Family Vineyards hopes to create a legacy for generations to come.
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.