Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A blend from six vineyards located across the appellation, this bottling offers aromas of dried pears, mango and damp oak on the nose. There’s a racy line of acidity on the palate, where dollops of creamy oak and baked apple are splashed by tangerine-powered acidity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay Golden Slope offers slightly subdued notes of Golden Delicious apples, fresh pears and melons with wafts of baking bread, shaved almonds and crushed stones. Medium-bodied, with understated apple and spice flavors and well-integrated freshness, it finishes softly spoken and savory.
Rating: 91+
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 superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.