Winemaker Notes
Meyer lemon, Golden Delicious apples, yellow peaches, musk melon, and honey on the nose and through to the palate, the gorgeous acidity is balanced by beautiful fleshiness, finishing very clean and with a haunting minerality. Refreshing and with moderate alcohol, this wine is all about pleasure, begging to be drunk up, with some oysters or a roast chicken and a big smile.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Light-bodied and fresh, this wine benefits from grapes grown in heavy clay soil in the city of Napa that wouldn’t work well for a red. Lots of green-apple fruitiness, Meyer lemons, pear slices and light buttery hints of partial malolactic. Barrel fermented with native yeast, as are all Matthiasson wines.
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.
As one of Napa’s coolest sub-appellations, the area begs for diversity among its vineyards. Merlot and Chardonnay firmly compete with Cabernet Sauvignon for a place here. Some of Napa’s best Zinfandels also come from the Oak Knoll District.
Situated far in Napa’s southern end, Oak Knoll receives a strong cooling influence from both the San Pablo Bay and the Pacific Coast’s evening fog and breezes. Summer days are warm but on average ten degrees cooler than in St. Helena farther north up the valley; summer nights are chilly. A long growing season promotes for leisurely ripening of grape berries, resulting in an impressive balance of sugars, phenols and acidity.
Notable producers include Trefethen, one of the appellation’s oldest wineries, Robert Biale, legendary Zinfandel producer and Lewis Cellars, a family-run, hands-on establishment.