Winemaker Notes
Granny Smith apple, wet chalk, toasty, savory French oak aromas, hint of browned butter, but the oak treatment is elegant enough to allow a lemon-blossom, floral character to emerge in the wine’s nose. Savory oak meets green-apple Jolly Ranchers with persistent apple and tropical fruit through the finish. Well integrated (wood and fruit) for such a young wine and offers a lot of subtle and delicious flavors early in its life. There’s a lot to love here-bright and rich, savory and nervey, balanced and delicious. Glasses empty quickly. This wine is begging for some seafood poached in butter or presented with a Beurre Blanc sauce: sand dabs, sea bass, black cod. Hints of tropicality in the wine lend themselves to ideas of bacon wrapped shrimp with mango salsa, or traditional matches like Brie or Tomme-style cheeses.
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 lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.