Winemaker Notes
The Northwest corner of Sonoma County provides a cool maritime climate resulting in an ideal location for Chardonnay. The hillsides of Sun Chase sit 1,400 feet above the valley floor and receive ample sunlight. Balanced fruit, minerality and a lasting finish are hallmarks of this rich Chardonnay.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay Sun Chase Vineyard has pretty aromas of beeswax, crushed hazelnuts, jasmine and quince. The medium-bodied palate is silky and rounded with creamy fruits and loads of floral perfume on the textured finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Chardonnay Sun Chase Vineyard is perfumed with decadent oak spice, lemon bars, and baked apple. The palate is ripe and fleshy, with candied quince, sweet, buttered brioche, and honeysuckle.
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Wine Spectator
Open-textured, with luscious cooking spice notes to the apple pastry and egg custard flavors that are supported by rich acidity. Buttered toast accents fill the juicy finish. Drink now.
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.
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.