Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Starting with the two Chardonnays from the Sonoma Coast AVA, the 2014 Chardonnay Durell Vineyard is a flat out gorgeous beauty that has classic notes of cream corn, apple blossom and sautéed lemons. Rich, textured, impeccably balanced and long, it will drink well for a decade or more. This 2014 spent 12 months in 30% new French oak.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This wine smacks you in the face first thing, demanding attention, before settling into mouthwateringly succulent layers of Asian pear, graham cracker and Nilla wafer. An underbelly of oak supports the fruit, remaining subtle and providing structure. The acidity shines most on the finish, inviting further exploration.
-
Wine & Spirits
Vintner Gavin Chanin draws from the oldest chardonnay vines at Durell, planted in 2001 on light clay mixed with tufa and sand. This isn’t a wine for the oak-shy, but the fruit underneath is luxurious and intoxicating, melding a sunny peach flavor with something more evasive, like the scent of pollen—a meadow in bloom. It’s a regal chardonnay for crab or lobster.
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.