Winemaker Notes
A truly delicious and harmonious wine. Pale gold color, very bright. The aromas bring to mind honey, almond and lemongrass (citronella). As the wine matures, intense flavors of grilled hazelnut and almonds are in evidence.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Enticing floral nose with ripe yellow grapefruit and candied lemon. Ripe and generous with a wonderfully creamy texture on the palate. Excellent tension between minerality and richness, the fine tannins beautifully interwoven with the acidity at the long, cool and focused finish. A blend of wine from young vines in the Côte de Beaune and the cool-climate La Grande Châtelaine.
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Jasper Morris
Pale lemon yellow. The bouquet has a light reduction but in particular an engaging fruit, very juicy, greengage with a little citrus, fills out very nicely. Will be attractive relatively soon. Good long flavours here. 40% of this wine is declassified Clos des Mouches, an extra incentive!
Barrel Sample: 89-91
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 classic source of exceptional Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, the Côte de Beaune makes up the southern half of the Côte d’Or. Its principal wine-producing villages are Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
The area is named for its own important town of Beaune, which is essentially the center of the Burgundy wine business and where many negociants center their work. Hospices de Beaune, the annual wine auction, is based here as well.