Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Chardonnay Carneros is much more serious. Coming from Carneros and offering lots of ripe orchard fruits, white peach and a touch of toasty oak (it was barrel fermented and age), it’s lively, fresh and beautifully textured on the palate. With bright acidity and clean finish, it’s serious stuff that over delivers at the price.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay Carneros opens with aromas of baked apricots and ginger over buttered toast with crumbled cashews and allspice notions. Rich and creamy in the mouth, it has a refreshing line and a spicy lift on the long finish.
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.