Winemaker Notes
The fruit for this Chardonnay was harvested from several vineyards surrounding Joyce Vineyards in the Arroyo Seco AVA. This AVA is recognized as having the longest growing season in California. Strong daily winds that bring cool fog from the Monterey Bay allow the grapes to spend more time on the vine building flavor, complexity and acidity. Extremely rocky well-drained alluvial soils are the base for creating wines processing freshness and minerality. The combination of sand, granite, and shale loam soils with the ever present marine influence provide the ideal conditions for growing Chardonnay.
The name "Submarine Canyon" is a geographical reference to the deep underwater sea canyon located in the Monterey Bay. This deep sea canyon is the deepest sea canyon along the west coast and measures over a mile in depth. The marine influence from this cold underwater submarine canyon provides the ideal climate for growing premium Chardonnay grapes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Lime peel, light butter and honeyed apple aromas draw the nose into this bottling. The palate is pleasantly layered in baked peach, lemon butter and coconut flake flavors.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Chardonnay Submarine Canyon was fermented in concrete and neutral oak with complete malolactic conversion. It opens with a delicate yet classic nose of orchard fruits and dried white flowers. The palate takes a bright, lively turn before closing with a succulent, cleansing finish.
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Vinous
The 2023 Chardonnay (Arroyo Seco) hails partially from vines planted at this Carmel Valley estate in 1976. Aged in 60% neutral French oak and 40% concrete eggs (1,000 gallons), it’s a little ethereal today. Sweet cream, golden apple, slate and mint wrap around a yogurt-like lactic edge, while a kick of stony minerality appears on the finish. Nicely done.
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.
Named after the dramatic, seasonal river of rain and snowmelt that cuts through the upper elevations of the Santa Lucia Mountains, the Arroyo Seco AVA extends east from the resultant mountain gorge, and into the rural and warm Salinas Valley. During the growing season, cool and damp Pacific Ocean air penetrates the gorge and flows into the valley, creating a cool evening respite for vineyards after a hot summer day. This natural water-release has also created a subterranean aquifer, which helps set the foundation of the AVA's boundaries and supplies the vineyards with water.
Arroyo Seco was actually home to the first commercial vineyard in California, called Mission Ranch, which was owned and propogated by the Mirassou family in the 1960s.
Chardonnay is most widely grown here. But as one of Monterey’s warmer regions, Arroyo Seco enjoys the highest praise for its reds, namely Bordeaux blends.
Arroyo Seco is one of the oldest AVAs in California, its status granted in the early 1980s, and also remains one of its smallest.