Winemaker Notes
This focused, elegant Chardonnay’s aromas feature pear, clove, green apple, and caramel. On the palate, aromas are complemented by a light touch of meyer lemon, graham cracker, and nutmeg. Incredibly food-friendly, the 2017 Highland Chardonnay is a perfect match for cream-sauced pastas, roast pork, and seafood.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Smooth and crisp with an exceptionally tangy style; pure, racy, long, and lively with a backdrop of elegant, subtle flavors. Lovely and remarkable at this price—actually, remarkable at any price.
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Wine Enthusiast
A strongly mineral kick of wet slate meets with apple peels, marmalade, toast and wool on the nose of this bottling. The palate is tense and taut with flavors of lime peel and kiwi, framed by a chalky minerality.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Morgan Highland Chardonnay is excellent. TASTING NOTES: This wine is bright, ripe, and crisp. Its aromas and flavors of ripe apples, light cream, and a bite of minerality should pair it well with shellfish in cream sauce. (Tasted: August 19, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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.