Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chardonnay Pastorale Vineyard has a seductively peachy nose with notions of white peaches, beeswax, ginger and honeysuckle with hints of crushed rocks and green guava. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers bags of stone fruit and tropical flavors with a creamy texture and lively line lifting the very long, spicy finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This estate-grown wine from a deeply coastal site offers a steely entry of high-toned acidity and follow-through, a bright, focused and fresh exploration of quenching Meyer lemon pulp and zest. Green apple, lime and integrated oak support the well-composed build up of flavor and texture.
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James Suckling
This has impressive weight and still holds an edge of tension and energy. It delivers big peach and melon aromas with gentle toffee and custard notes. Some hazelnuts, too. The palate has a svelte, long and fleshy feel, sweeping layers of stone-fruit flavors. Some grapefruit to close. Drink now.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2016 Joseph Phelps Pastorale Vineyard Chardonnay is concentrated and attractive. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows up with aromas and flavors of ripe fruit, savory spices, and oak. Enjoy its richness with shellfish in decadent cream sauces. (Tasted: August 22, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
Joseph Phelps Vineyards is a family-owned winery committed to crafting world class, estate-grown wines. Founded in 1973 when Joe Phelps purchased a former cattle ranch near St. Helena in the Napa Valley, the winery now controls and farms nearly 375 acres of vines on eight estate vineyards in St. Helena, the Stags Leap District, Oakville, Rutherford, Oak Knoll District, Carneros and South Napa Valley. In 1999, the Phelps family added 100 acres of vineyard property near the town of Freestone on the Sonoma Coast, where Phelps now grows Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Phelps is best known for its flagship Napa Valley blend of red Bordeaux varietals, Insignia, first produced in 1974. Awarded Wine Spectator's "Wine of the Year" in 2005, Insignia is widely regarded as a qualitative benchmark for California winemaking.
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.