Winemaker Notes
Sourced from our Estate blocks on the historic Stanly Ranch, our 2020 Carneros Chardonnay is the best example of everything we love from the region. Bright acidity, savory salinity, layered complexity, and luscious mouthfeel all converge in this bottle
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming all from the Stanly Ranch Vineyard in Carneros, the 2020 Chardonnay Carneros saw partial malolactic fermentation and aging in 30% new French oak, with the rest in used barrels and stainless steel. Beautifully textured and medium-bodied, it has lots of honeyed, tropical, pineapple aromatics, some classic buttery Chardonnay nuances, a good spine of acidity, and a great finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Vivid toast and butter aromas lead to equally toasty, baking spice flavors that are cut through with lemons and green apples for good counter-balance. The wine is bold and assertive, a great choice for fans of an oaky style.
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James Suckling
Aromas of peaches, grilled pineapples, lemon zest, toast and praline with some oyster shell notes. Full-bodied with fresh acidity and saline notes to balance a toasty, flavorful core. Vibrant finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Carneros-sourced 2020 Chardonnay is a beauty, with scents of grilled pineapple, white peach and citrus on the nose. Fermentation takes place in a mix of new French oak barrels (30%), used barrels (50%) and stainless-steel "barrels" (20%), leaving a wine that's touched by oak but not dominated by it. It's medium-bodied, plump and textural yet fresh, clean and lively on the 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.