Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Marked by high acidity and stony minerals, this is an austerely elegant Chardonnay. Its natural lime and Meyer lemon flavors have been enriched with sweet oak. Shows the pedigreed finesse of its chilly climate estate origin.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Rich, well-ripened and defined equally by both its sweet apples and its nicely proportioned oak, this deeply fruited offering sports very fine balance and is at one and the same time both weighty and light on its feet. It is lifted by a pert note of acidity and shows good continuity at the finish, and, as tasty as it is at the moment, it is a Chardonnay that will improve with time in the bottle.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.