Winemaker Notes
This single-vineyard bottling from one of our most well-known estate vineyards offers aromas of white peach, spiced pears, orange blossom, hazelnuts and crushed rocks. Stone fruit, nectarine and tangelo flavors are counter balanced with flinty, textural finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a site on the Sonoma Coast (this comes all from a block within the Durell Vineyard), the 2017 Chardonnay Stone Côte Vineyard reminds me of a Grand Cru Chablis on steroids, with gorgeous lemon curd, iodine, white flowers, crushed chalky, and a touch of green almond, with its oak beautifully integrated. Showing medium to full-bodied richness as well as flawless balance, this is a Chardonnay that builds with time in the glass as well as on the palate and has bright, salty acidity and incredible length. Beautifully done, it’s another thrilling Chardonnay from this estate.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is from an estate block within the original Durell Vineyard, 100% barrel fermented and aged, only 27% of the French oak new. Complex and exotic in baked pear, nuts, tangerine and crushed rock, it offers a fulsome richness balanced by mineral-laden tension and lasting acidity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay Stone Côte sashays out of the glass with provocative apricot tart, honey-drizzled pears and spice cake notes plus suggestions of fresh ginger and marzipan. Medium-bodied, the palate possesses bags of finesse and freshness and a satiny texture to boot, finishing on an invigorating citrusy note.
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.