Winemaker Notes
McCrea Vineyard is located on the eastern flank bench of Sonoma Mountain where redwoods thrive in a very rare for the area mix of Sonoma volcanics and limestone. Produces one of Kistler's more elegantly scented Chardonnays, perfumed by delicate morning floral and citrus blossom aromas, leading to a chalk like, subtle, ethereal core of fruit and lovely acidity.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from marine sediments and volcanic soils on Sonoma Mountain, the 2017 Chardonnay McCrea offers a brilliant, white flower and orchard fruit-driven profile that slowly shows more brioche and honeysuckle with time in the glass. It’s beautifully textured, with good acidity and a great finish. Drink this complete, impeccably balanced Chardonnay over the coming decade or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The McCrea vineyard has two unique sets of soils: half the vineyard is old marine sediment uplift and the other half is red volcanic soil. The 2017 Chardonnay McCrea Vineyard has an open nose of quince peel, baked Golden Delicious apple, toast, warm hay and toasted almonds with dried acacia, river stone and lime peel hints over a core of warm white peach. Medium-bodied, it's fully fruited and giving in the mouth, broad and juicy, with tropical touches coming through on the long, textured and energetic finish.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Very much reflecting the more outgoing nature of its predecessor from 2016, this year’s Athearn Estate bottling from the McCrea Vineyard is the most accessible and immediately fruity of the Kistler contingent. That is not to say that it in any way lacks the structure and vitality to age, but it is already so rich and articulate in its layered delivery of sweetly oaked, mildly minerally, fresh apple fruit and so polished in feel, that, even though not questioning but that it will only get better with time, we would not hesitate to pull its cork when sitting down to a special dinner tonight.
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.
Defined more by altitude than geographical outline, the Sonoma Mountain appellation occupies elevations between 400 and 1,200 feet on the northern and eastern slopes of the actual Sonoma Mountain and is part of the greater Sonoma Valley appellation. The mountain reaches 2,400 feet; its hills separate the cooling winds of Petaluma Gap from the Sonoma Valley.
On a cooler western flank, Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Syrah enjoy a great deal of success. Vineyards on its warmer, eastern side, interspersed with heavily forested areas, tend to include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Syrah. Given its complexity of topography and mesoclimates, Sonoma Mountain excels with a wide range of grape varieties.