Winemaker Notes
Subtle yellow in color, with aromas of citrus, pear, green apple, honey, and a hint of minerality. The palate is concentrated and has good volume, while the pronounced acidity adds freshness. The finish is long and elegant.
Excellent on its own, this wine pairs well with fish, shellfish, white meats, pasta, paella, and a variety of Asian cuisines.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The very classical and varietal 2019 EQ Quartz Chardonnay was produced in a very Burgundian way: the full clusters were pressed and the juice fermented with a lot of solids and native yeasts in French oak barrels, where the wine matured for 11 months, with bâtonnage and no sulfur added until bottling. It's ripe at 14% alcohol, reflecting a warm year, and has a round palate with good freshness and balance, purity of flavors and a dry finish.
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James Suckling
Green apple, lime, oatmeal and some sour cream and nougat on the nose. A pure,medium-to full-bodied chardonnay with an elegant palate and a creamy finish. Some oak bitterness in the end.
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.
Its rolling, coastal hills encouraged great investment in the 1990s from those in search of a cooler grape growing environment compared to those found in Chile’s Central Valley. All of the vineyards of the San Antonio Valley, which runs north to south and parallel to the coast, experience the cooling effect of the ocean and are made of vine-loving clay and granitic soils. While Sauvignon Blanc put this valley on the Chilean wine map, high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are emerging and some producers are starting to experiment with sparkling wine.