Winemaker Notes
The 2017 Silhouette Chardonnay has an intense nose filled with exotic fruit notes including pineapple, stone fruit and tangerine, and a fragrant vanilla finish. The mouth is very round with a nice sweetness and very clean minerality. The wine is dense and ample with a touch of sweetness and citrus (yuzu) finish. A very balanced and elegant wine with a stylish touch of oak and a beautiful finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From the Stanly Ranch and Heintz vineyard (both in Carneros), the 2017 Chardonnay Silhouette is a classic Napa Valley Chardonnay that has a Montrachet-like slant in its rich orchard fruits, toasted nut, brioche, and white flower-driven aromas and flavors. Brought up in 40% new French oak, it has a medium to full-bodied, rounded, sexy texture, terrific sweetness of fruit, and a great finish.
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James Suckling
?A fresh and fruity white with sliced green-apple and lemon aromas and flavors. Medium body. Tangy acidity. Bright finish. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This bottling represents the best Chardonnay fruit of the vintage. The 2017 Chardonnay Silhouette comes mostly from Stanly Ranch Estate vineyard plus some fruit from Hyde vineyard in Carneros. The wine fermented in barrel with native yeasts and full malolactic. It aged 16 months with the full lees in 40% new French oak. It gives up forward fruit notes of guava, fresh pineapple and honeydew melon with hints of peach kernel, lime leaves and chopped nuts with a touch of cedar. Medium-bodied, the palate has a seriously racy line of freshness cutting through the intense tropical and stone fruit flavors, finishing long and toasty. 700 cases produced.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a long-aged white, given 16 months in 40% new French oak. Reductive qualities give way over time to rich, dense aspects of caramel, brioche and tropical fruit, with bright underlying acidity providing balance and brightness amidst the oak and concentration
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Wine Spectator
Offers a seductive smoky aroma, featuring luscious and engaging flavors of apple, peach and apricot that are supported by fresh acidity. Lilting midpalate, with a long finish of meringue, showing some tropical accents. Drink now through 2024
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.
One of the world's most highly regarded regions for wine production as well as tourism, the Napa Valley was responsible for bringing worldwide recognition to California winemaking. In the 1960s, a few key wine families settled the area and hedged their bets on the valley's world-class winemaking potential—and they were right.
The Napa wine industry really took off in the 1980s, when producers scooped up vineyard lands and planted vines throughout the county. A number of wineries emerged, and today Napa is home to hundreds of producers ranging from boutique to corporate. Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely the grape of choice here, with many winemakers also focusing on Bordeaux blends. White wines from Napa Valley are usually Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that claim specific wine characteristics based on situation, slope and soil. Farthest south and coolest from the influence of the San Pablo Bay is Carneros, followed by Coombsville to its northeast and then Yountville, Oakville and Rutherford. Above those are the warm St. Helena and the valley's newest and hottest AVA, Calistoga. These areas follow the valley floor and are known generally for creating rich, dense, complex and smooth red wines with good aging potential. The mountain sub appellations, nestled on the slopes overlooking the valley AVAs, include Stags Leap District, Atlas Peak, Chiles Valley (farther east), Howell Mountain, Mt. Veeder, Spring Mountain District and Diamond Mountain District. Napa Valley wines from the mountain regions are often more structured and firm, benefiting from a lot of time in the bottle to evolve and soften.