Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2013 was fairly warm and dry, and growers expected an early harvest. But a powerful storm in September brought 10 inches of rain. Luckily, the season ended with more warm, dry weather in October. Despite the year's challenges, the 2013 Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton is maturing gracefully. The nose is defined by struck flint, porcini powder and charcuterie, while the palate is surprisingly youthful. Still offering energetic, citrusy fruit, it gains depth and savoriness as it coats the palate and finishes with tremendous length.
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.
Yamhill-Carlton, characterized by pastoral, rolling hills composed of shallow, quick-draining, ancient marine soil, is ideal for Pinot noir and other cool-climate-loving varieties. It is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range to its west, whose highest point climbs to an altitude of 3,500 feet. Yamhill-Carlton is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides: Chehalem Mountains to the north, the Dundee Hills to the east and the western Coast Range to its west, which, when it lets Pacific air through, serves to cool the region.
Vineyards grow on the ridges surrounding the two small communities of Yamhill and Carlton and cover about 1,200 acres of this 60,000 acre region, which roughly makes a horse-shoe shape on a map.