Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton is perfumed with opulent fruit, ripe melon, pine, and delicate oak spice. It has a rich texture, although it has tension and does not feel heavy at all. The palate is fresh with ripe green apple, lime blossom, and delicate oak spice. Drink 2024-2034.
-
James Suckling
Praline, green apples, wet stones, lemons and white grapefruit on the nose. White chocolate and salted caramel, too. It’s full-bodied, concentrated and full of flavor, with creamy and buttery layers balanced by vibrant acidity.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton was matured in 10% new oak for 19 months and an additional six months in stainless steel. It has very pretty scents of poached pears, citrus blossoms, cashews and clover honey. The medium-bodied palate is satiny with expansive honey-and-citrus character, mouthwatering acidity and a long, mineral-driven finish.
-
Wine Spectator
Crisp and steely, with expressive lemon and nectarine flavors accented by hints of saline and mineral. Finishes on a vibrant note. Drink now through 2024. 1,030 cases made.
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.