Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of straw, cooked apple, citrus and peach. Hints of jasmine and light vanilla cream. Full-bodied with nice layering and purity and a round,creamy textured. 30% made in concrete egg. Aged 12 months in barrel, too, with only 5% new oak. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay Le Début is a brand new cuvée from Hyde de Villaine, made from Calera selection vines planted in 2010, which winemaker Guillaume Boudet says are beginning to produce more complex fruit now that they have gained some age. It was fermented and aged on its fine lees (without stirring) in concrete eggs and used oak and offers pure aromas of yellow apples, beeswax, mushroom and fresh bread with stony, flinty nuances. The light-bodied palate slowly unfurls its savory fruits, and it has an appealing waxy texture that drives the long finish, which Boudet notes comes from a full but long and cold malolactic conversion. It balances texture and freshness, fruit and mineral character and will continue to gain savory complexity in bottle over the next decade.
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.