Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Plush and ripe, offering a broad array of apple pastry, dried peach and mango flavors that are well-structured. Honey and spice notes linger on the finish, with buttery hints. Drink now through 2021.
Metz Road specializes in small-lot, native yeast-fermented, single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Riverview Vineyard. Set along an eastern benchland of the Salinas Valley, this cool-climate site owes its vinous personality to decomposed granite soils, morning fog and strong winds off Monterey Bay some 40 miles to the north. These unique conditions help distinguish the wines from their brethren in the Santa Lucia Highlands directly across the valley. Sustainable farming practices and innovative winemaking techniques including on-site fermentations with wild yeast, are utilized to preserve the intrinsic character and terroir of Riverview Vineyard.
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 geographic and climatic paradise for grape vines, Monterey is a part of the greater Central Coast AVA and contains within it five smaller sub-appellations, including Arroyo Seco, San Lucas, San Bernabe, Hames Valley and the famous Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is relatively warm but tempered by cool, coastal winds, allowing the regions in Monterey County an exceptionally long growing season. Bud break often happens two weeks sooner and harvest tends to be two weeks later compared to other surrounding regions.
Monterey’s coastal side, where the cooling ocean fog allows grapes to develop a perfect sugar-acid balance, excels in the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Warmer, inland subzones are home to fleshy, concentrated and full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
Chardonnay, covering about 40% of vineyard acreage, is the most widely planted grape in all of Monterey County.