Winemaker Notes
The 2015 vintage shows aromas of lemon blossom, golden delicious apple and yellow plum. Asian pear, apricot and lemon curd flavors. The wine is plush and richly textured with mineral undertones and balanced acidity.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Opening with beautiful aromatics, this wine has a heady invitation of orange and apple blossom before revealing a sublime texture and rich oak. Pillowy on the palate, it offers Asian pear and apple flavors, with a slight confectionery quality of crème brûlée.
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Wine Spectator
Oak figures in nicely, with a kiss of smoke and toast amid green apple, citrus, pear and honeydew notes, making for a complex and cleansing drink. Drink now through 2021.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.