Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
An amazing effort, the 2014 Migration Charles Heintz Chardonnay exhibits beautiful stone and core fruit flavors, and a streak of minerality. The wine's dried peach and green apple nuances in the finish pair it well with simply prepared crustacean. (Tasted: March 6, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
This richly concentrated wine surprises in its uplifting acidity on the back of the palate. Light, bright and full of Gravenstein apple goodness, it is well structured and refreshingly unfussy.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
he 2014 Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard shows plenty of tangerine oil, orange blossom, crisp melony fruit, fresh acidity and a medium-bodied, pure, clean mouthfeel. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.