Winemaker Notes
This highly textured wine displays aromas of yellow apple, orange blossom, honeysuckle, and tangerine skin. Fresh flavors of Granny Smith apple and Meyer lemon are intertwined with layers of spice and crystallized ginger. A rich and weighty mid-palate is followed by a very long exotic, mineral infused finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and vibrant satsuma tangerine, Meyer lemon, pear pastry and ginger notes mingle with Honeycrisp apple and lemon sherbet, with accents of brioche, sweet cream and spices on a supple, elegant frame. Drink now through 2034.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Pouring a bright yellow/green hue, the 2022 Chardonnay Four Hearts Vineyards comes from the Laguna Ridge and shows notes of preserved lemon, poached pear, baking spice, and a touch of ginger. Full-bodied and elegant all the way through its long finish, it has a rounded but weightless feel and is going to show its best over the coming 7-8 years.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.