Winemaker Notes
Pale yellow color, with aromas of lemon crème and subtle hints of citrus blossom, stone fruits and vanilla. The initial impression is generous, round, and supple. The palate is concentrated yet refreshingly balanced, with tangy citrus and ripe stone fruits carried by a deft phenolic touch and minerality that provides interest. This is an elegant example of Elton Chardonnay with mouth-watering persistence and exceptional length. This Chardonnay has the potential to be long-lived.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Deeply extracted flavors of Meyer lemon, apple and peach are cloaked in lighter touches of new oak. Some 20% of the barrels were new, and the wine spent about a year and a half aging prior to bottling in March 2020. The wine soaks in deliciously, completely coating the palate and lingering down and through an extended finish with hints of butter and roasted peanuts.
Editors' Choice -
James Suckling
Very pure and bright pear and white-peach aromas here with some sliced melon, as well as subtle pastry and very lightly toasted grains. The palate holds a succulent and powerful line of flavor with attractive pear and freshly baked pastry flavors.
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Wine Spectator
Laser-focused and structured, with lemongrass and apple flavors laced with mint and spice notes that expand on the savory finish.
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Wine & Spirits
This wine’s scents of white flowers and lemon have a caramel frame, with a hint of smoky lees. Its reductive character lends elegance, and its nutty savor will pair well with scallops in brown butter.
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.
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.