Winemaker Notes
This Chardonnay from 5 Wells is their first single vineyard offering from this incredible property. It has a beautiful, expressive nose of white stone fruit, fresh lemon, crushed white stones, honeysuckle, and blanched almonds. The palate shows equal purity, with flavors of guava, white peach, pastry crust, and lemon custard. Weight and richness are deftly balanced with freshness and acidity, finishing with elegance and persistence.
This is a delicious wine which will pair easily with many meals, or drink well alone.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a cold site not far off the Pacific Ocean, the 2022 Chardonnay 5 Wells Vineyard sports a vivid gold hue to go with an exotic perfume of minty herbs, ripe lemon and citrus fruits, medium body, and a lively, balanced, elegant mouthfeel.
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.