Winemaker Notes
Incredibly food-friendly, the 2015 Highland Chardonnay is a perfect match with cream-sauced pasta, roast chicken and pork, and seafood.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay Highland has an alluring nose of honeyed peaches, lightly buttered toast, spiced apples and ginger with a touch of chopped almonds. Medium-bodied with a toasty/savory palate, it gives a great core of stone fruit and spicy flavors, finishing long and refreshing.
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Wine Enthusiast
Creamy but not overly buttery aromas meet with Anjou pear, honeysuckle and marcona almond notes on the nose of this popular bottling from one of the region's stalwart producers. The palate combines nutty qualities with lemon peel and sharply acidic apple flavors.
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.
Perhaps the most highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.