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, this Highland Chardonnay is a perfect match for cream-sauced pastas, roast pork, and seafood
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Bright, fresh, crisp, and lovely, with toasty oak and racy fruit. It’s not only an elegant and stylish effort from this overachieving winery but also an excellent value.
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Wine Enthusiast
Stony aromas of crisp nectarine, taut pear and chalk cut through the nose on this bottling. The palate is texturally engaging, fresh and chalky, offering lively flavors of Asian pear, lemongrass and Makrut lime leaf, with just enough broadness in the mid palate to please many.
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.