Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
A star from the Russian River Valley, the 2015 Migration Chardonnay is finely packed with bright core fruit flavors. The wine's solid core on the palate invites a pairing with crispy fried chicken over a bed of arugula. (Tasted: December 9, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay Russian River Valley gives up notes of nectarines, honeydew melon and lemon tart with suggestions of spicy applesauce, cashews and nutmeg. Medium-bodied with mouth-filling melon and spiced apple flavors, it offers great vivacity and a nice suggestion of silkiness to the texture, finishing long.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Highly floral, this is a light-styled wine with integrated oak. Its apple blossom aroma is delightfully inviting, leading to strong lemon, vanilla and apple pie flavors that play on the lush, creamy palate.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.