Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay was fermented in French oak after which it spent 9 months in new French oak. The wine was not put through malolactic fermentation. It displays a bouquet of toasty oak, minerals, pear, baked apples and baking spices. Medium-bodied with vibrant natural acidity, this well-balanced Chardonnay will drink well for 5-6 years.
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Wine Spectator
Open-textured, polished and generous with its white peach-scented pear and green pineapple flavors, lingering gently but persistently. Drink now through 2015. 800 cases imported.
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.
Home to some of Australia’s most elegant and long-lived red and white wines, Margaret River is situated in the farthest reaches of Western Australia. Relatively warm and dry, the region is cooled by breezes from the Indian Ocean. Margaret River takes some inspiration from Bordeaux, producing top-quality Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux Blends with firm structure, mouthwatering acidity, balanced alcohol and notes of herbs and spice. For white wines, refreshing blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon as well as complex, age-worthy Chardonnays are regional specialties.