Winemaker Notes
Full-bodied and lush, yet never heavy, our Wild Yeast Chardonnay shows off flavors of ripe pear and melon with butterscotch and hazelnut notes balanced by oak spice and bright acidity. This is a wildly expressive wine that will reward a few years of patient cellaring. The grapes are fermented using only indigenous or “wild” yeast cultures found on the skins of the grapes themselves, in the vineyards and within the walls of our winery.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Intensely fruity on the nose in pear and anise, this white is creamy and lush in style, while simultaneously balanced in ripeness. It shows an exotic mineral component of stone and crushed rock before unveiling a smooth, lengthy finish.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Today’s trendier Chardonnays are those that emphasize high acid and somewhat leaner fruit, but here is one that is defined by neither. It is a full, sweetly fruited working that is long on juicy succulence and creamy oak, and, if admittedly leaning to softness in feel, it claims a good deal of obvious, well-sustained richness right now and demands little in the way of further age before drinking.
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.