Winemaker Notes
The 2021 vintage is a delightful discovery. Striking scents of lemon, white peach and kumquat are framed by 10% new French oak to keep this wine light on its feet. The entry offers freshness and energy, where complex flavors of citrus, croissant pastry, and white aromatic flowers play in perfect harmony. This Chardonnay finishes with a crisp mineral note of fresh sea breeze, inviting a second sip. Drink now through 2031.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This smooth and silky wine emphasizes delicious apple and pear flavors, keeping the buttery, oaky notes in the background for a complex and harmonious effect. Granny Smith apples and Bosc pears meet mild vanilla, toast and almond flavors that linger through the finish.
Editors' Choice -
Tasting Panel
Soft in style, with quite muted acidity and no discernable wood tannins or charred notes from barrel aging, this wine offers vanillin and butterscotch notes, ripe peach flavors, and a light dusting of baking spices that are entirely in keeping with its structural attributes.
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Wine Spectator
Elegant and subtle, with a wonderful, creamy richness to the pear and lemon curd flavors. Shows details of apple pastry, salted butter and spices, offering a touch of apple blossom and a crisp thread of acidity. Drink now. 3,178 cases made.
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 small and picturesque valley separating Napa Valley on its south border and Alexander Valley to its north, Knights Valley excels in similar varieties as the two aforementioned appellations, namely red Bordeaux varieties and blends, as well as Sauvignon blanc. Originally established by Beringer Vineyards, today several outstanding producers claim acreage here. The circadian cooling effects of the nearby Pacific Ocean create a nighttime respite for vineyards during the hot growing season.