Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Chardonnay Seascape Vineyard was 100% barrel fermented in French oak barrels, 26% new, and aged for 14 months. It needs a little coaxing to reveal restrained notes of lemon meringue pie, lime leaves, struck flint and wet pebbles with touches of coriander seed, orange blossoms and yuzu zest. Medium-bodied, the palate is very crisp, intense and pure with loads of citrus and stone-inspired flavors, finishing very long and zesty. This tight-knit beauty is going to be incredible in another year or two and will drink well for at least 10+ years.
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Jeb Dunnuck
While the 2018 Chardonnay Seascape Vineyard comes from a cooler site on the Sonoma Coast, it brings solid ripeness levels in its tropical and honeyed citrus-like fruits as well as notes of baking spices, candle wax, white flowers, and chalky mineral nuances. With bright, integrated acidity, medium to full body, and a great finish, it comes together beautifully with time in the glass and will continue to impress 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 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.