Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Dense and layered with richness and ripeness, but freshness underneath. Excellent depth and center palate. Full and flavorful. Fab now.
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Wine Enthusiast
In this lively, delicately balanced wine from an exceptional vineyard, an exuberance of pear and tangerine plays on the palate, buoyed by focused minerality. With just the right touch of ripeness and richness, it ends with a suggestion of lemon custard.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Chardonnay is layered with singular aromas of cheese rind, elderflower, matcha, quince paste and honeyed peaches with earthy nuances. The palate offers up an incredible lushness of fruit, tempered by earthy notions and lifted by tangy acidity, finishing very long, layered and energetic.
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.