Winemaker Notes
Full yellow color. Aromas of lemon drop, crème brulée and orange zest intermixed with strong notes of minerality (wet stones) and fresh hazelnut. Full bodied and mineral driven, this wine displays a creamy texture and very long mineral finish. Built to age gracefully for a decade, this wine is already very approachable.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Lots of white peach, quince, white flower, and green almond notes emerge from the 2020 Chardonnay Ma Douce, a full-bodied barrel sample with beautiful depth as well as freshness.
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From a vineyard in the Fort Ross-Seaview area—on the second ridge inland from the ocean, at about 1300-1400 feet above sea level, the 2020 Chardonnay Ma Douce was barrel fermented using indigenous yeasts in about 25% new French oak. Scents of pastry crust accent nectarine and citrus fruit on the nose, while the medium to full-bodied palate is bright, vibrant and crisp, with a lingering finish.
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.
On the far western edge of the larger Sonoma Coast appellation, the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA hugs right up against the Pacific coast. Vineyards, planted at rugged elevations between 920 to 1,800 feet, occupy only two percent of the total land in the AVA. Fort Ross-Seaview growers believe that the region boasts an ideal mix of sunshine, cool air and beneficial stress for producing high quality Chardonnay and Pinot noir.