Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very dense yet tangy and energetic with beautiful intensity of flavor and brightness, which shows creme caramel. Full-bodied and vivid. Long and layered. Richness with brightness and focus. Drink now, but it's also one for aging as well.
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Vinous
The 2015 Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard shows just how well these wines age. Orange confit, burnt sugar, apricot and light tropical accents resonant in a textured, oily Chardonnay that shows all the natural concentration and sheer extract of the vintage. The 2015 has aged exceptionally well.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay is extraordinarily perfumed, with loads of elderflower and orange blossom mingling with peach and apricot fruit and accented by hay, mushroom, tea leaves, honey and smoke. The palate is precise on entry before exploding to savory fruits, and it is seamlessly framed, ending with a long, textured finish. This has a lovely juxtaposition of lush, ripe fruits and tangy mineral backbone.
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.