Winemaker Notes
This elegant Chardonnay captures the essence of its Carneros origin with depth and character. Aromas of vanilla and baked apple invite you in, while the palate offers a rich, textured experience lifted by vibrant natural acidity. Hints of peach pie and lemon zest add brightness, carrying through to a beautifully complete and lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A big, bold wine with the toasty, concentrated, buttery quality of a classic California reserve. Barrel fermented in all-new French barrels, bringing out an almost peppery flavor on the full body. Poached pears, golden apples, toasted almonds. Rich and nicely viscous in texture. Drink now or hold.
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Vinous
The 2023 Chardonnay Carneros Reserve is a powerful, tightly coiled wine. Apricot, lemon confit, sage, mint, white pepper and chalk emerge with some coaxing. Readers should plan on giving this a year or two in the bottle, as it is pretty closed today. It's a fine example of this cool, late-ripening year.
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Wine Spectator
Lush and complex, with mango puree, dried pineapple and lemon curd flavors that mingle with vanilla cream, lemongrass and marmalade. A fresh thread of acidity keeps the flavors vivid and in focus, while notes of spices and toast linger. Drink now. 400 cases made.
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.