Winemaker Notes
This 2020 Napa Valley Chardonnay is a rich, nuanced and complex wine. The nose opens with aromas of apple cobbler, creme brulee, ripe pineapple, orange marmalade, and fresh peach. The palate is supple, balanced and integrated and exhibits flavors of stone fruit, candied lemon zest, baking spices, ambrosia and vanilla. It is at once vibrant and balanced while being creamy with a long, lingering finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is very steely and fresh with crushed-stone and lemon-rind undertones. Praline, too. Medium-bodied, linear and bright. About 40% malo. Mostly Carneros and Coombsville fruit. Excellent value for this quality.
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Decanter
White and yellow peach fruit, toast, smoke and almond. Weighty palate with ripe stone fruit, fresh acidity and well-integrated oak. Persistent finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from both Coombsville and Carneros, the 2020 Chardonnay spent 10 months in 36% new French oak. It’s a classy, outstanding effort offering lots of apple blossom, white flowers, and orange zest nuances in a medium-bodied, bright, juicy style. It’s perfect for enjoying over the coming couple of years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Freemark Abbey's 2020 Chardonnay blends fruit from Carneros, Coombsville (and vicinity) and Howell Mountain. Roughly three-fourths goes through fermentation in barrels, with 30% to 40% new oak (all French, all 228 liters). Subtle toast and butter notes accent ripe melon and peach on the nose, while the medium to full-bodied palate is plump and slightly oily, then clean and mouthwatering on the finish, adding hints of grapefruit and green apple.
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.
One of the world's most highly regarded regions for wine production as well as tourism, the Napa Valley was responsible for bringing worldwide recognition to California winemaking. In the 1960s, a few key wine families settled the area and hedged their bets on the valley's world-class winemaking potential—and they were right.
The Napa wine industry really took off in the 1980s, when producers scooped up vineyard lands and planted vines throughout the county. A number of wineries emerged, and today Napa is home to hundreds of producers ranging from boutique to corporate. Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely the grape of choice here, with many winemakers also focusing on Bordeaux blends. White wines from Napa Valley are usually Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that claim specific wine characteristics based on situation, slope and soil. Farthest south and coolest from the influence of the San Pablo Bay is Carneros, followed by Coombsville to its northeast and then Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford. Above those are the warm St. Helena and the valley's newest and hottest AVA, Calistoga. These areas follow the valley floor and are known generally for creating rich, dense, complex and smooth red wines with good aging potential. The mountain sub appellations, nestled on the slopes overlooking the valley AVAs, include Stags Leap District, Atlas Peak, Chiles Valley (farther east), Howell Mountain, Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain District and Diamond Mountain District. Napa Valley wines from the mountain regions are often more structured and firm, benefiting from a lot of time in the bottle to evolve and soften.