Winemaker Notes
Crystallin pale straw with a shimmering silver edge. The aromas are perfumed with lemon curd, zest of citrus fruits, quince, and honeyed white peaches. Lively and vibrant on the palate, with a lovely creaminess, the citrus leads way to stone fruit flavors of white peaches and pears on a refreshing frame of balanced acidity. The stone fruit flavors linger gracefully while intertwined with interesting flinty notes on the finish. Elegant and fully enjoyable now, it will gain in complexity as it ages.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
Limpid yellow. Powerful, spice-tinged white peach, pear nectar, tangerine and honey scents are lifted by a spicy ginger flourish. Shows impressive energy as well as energy to the sappy orchard and pit fruit flavors, which take on anise and sweet butter flourishes. A floral note appears on a very persistent, seamless finish that echoes the pear and tangerine notes. Drinking window: 2022 - 2028
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Decanter
Picked in October with modest sugar levels and plenty of acidity, the grapes come from volcanic soils, gently pressed, fermented and aged 12 months in cask (15% new), with the full malolactic fermentation finished. Forward aromas of orange peel and ripe pear, a hint of spice. Refreshingly juicy and fresh, this is a taut, elegant wine of rewarding persistence.
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Wine Enthusiast
Barrel fermented with wild yeast in 15% new French oak, this is an open and accessible wine with forward fruit flavors of citrus, pear and white peach. The acids are lively and balanced, though less apparent than in the winery's Elton Vineyard Chardonnay. Drink this while the Elton ages a bit.
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Wine Spectator
Elegantly spirited, with structured apple, smoky spice and mineral notes that build to a brisk finish. Drink now.
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.
Yamhill-Carlton, characterized by pastoral, rolling hills composed of shallow, quick-draining, ancient marine soil, is ideal for Pinot noir and other cool-climate-loving varieties. It is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range to its west, whose highest point climbs to an altitude of 3,500 feet. Yamhill-Carlton is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides: Chehalem Mountains to the north, the Dundee Hills to the east and the western Coast Range to its west, which, when it lets Pacific air through, serves to cool the region.
Vineyards grow on the ridges surrounding the two small communities of Yamhill and Carlton and cover about 1,200 acres of this 60,000 acre region, which roughly makes a horse-shoe shape on a map.