Winemaker Notes
Pale yellow, brilliant. Lifted aromas of fresh citrus and creme brulee intermingled with lemon zest. Round but precise entry with complex, sweet-sour citrus and summer stone fruits flavors that cling to the palate with superb minerality. Mouthwatering acidity balances the richness of the mouthfeel and carries the long finish that continues to pleasantly evolve. This Chardonnay has the potential to be long-lived.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Chardonnay Elton Vineyard is fresh with wet stone, lime zest, and Bosc pear. The palate is refreshing and energetic, building with intensity and showing its pedigree through the finish, with notes of stony earth, lime candy, and vibrant green apple. Drink 2024-2034.
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James Suckling
Aromas of lemon tea, lavender and chamomile. Medium-bodied and delicate, but with structure and length. Nuanced mineral character adds dimension to the citrus fruit. Elegant. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Steely in focus yet rich with citrus, lemongrass and savory spice flavors that glide along the supple finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a tighter, leaner vintage than 2018 for this Elton Chardonnay, but it remains a complex wine with varied fruit flavors. A mix of citrus, apple skin and green pineapple showcases a more herbal, tart side of the grape. But the green character is set within a balanced frame of acids, phenolic highlights and light hints of cinnamon. Enjoy this over the next half decade.
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.