Winemaker Notes
Boasting vibrant aromas of tangerine blossom and wet stone, the 2016 Unfiltered Chardonnay is beautifully balanced with a pleasant crisp character. In the glass, it exhibits a light straw color with a faint green hue.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Incredibly refined, powerful and sumptuously smooth. Notes of nectarine, almond, custard combined with apple, oyster shell, smoke and a touch of butterscotch. A rounded and stunningly lingering finish.
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James Suckling
This is a delicious chardonnay that shows just the right balance between dried citrus rind and pithy grapefruit and vanilla and butter. Full-bodied with lovely phenolics, providing depth and structure. Vibrant yet oily on the finish. Drink now or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Entirely barrel fermented, this white is beautifully aromatic in pear, toasted oak and hazelnut. High toned, floral and earthy, it shows deft balance in the glass, offering elegance and impressive complexity that lasts gingerly on the finish.
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Wine & Spirits
This vintage is the first at Newton for Alberto Bianchi, who had made wine at other Moët Hennessy properties in Margaret River, Marlborough and Mendoza after starting out in Italy. He focused this chardonnay on fruit from Carneros, with a contribution from Rutherford; it fermented spontaneously in French oak barrels (24 percent new) where it aged as well. It’s refreshing, firm and juicy, a sleek chardonnay that feels carefully crafted. Time in oak adds a salted caramel note to the brisk and earthy finish.
Newton was founded in 1977 by English businessman Peter Newton and his Chinese wife Su Hua. Peter Newton was already renowned as a pioneer of winemaking in the Napa Valley, having founded the Sterling Winery near Calistoga in the 1960s. The Newtons transformed one square mile of rolling hillside in Spring Mountain into one of the Napa Valley’s most prestigious estates, whose wines have graced the official dinners of several US presidents.
The Newton estate encompasses 170 acres of prime Napa Valley terroir, distributed over four separate, wholly owned vineyards: Spring Mountain, Yountville, Mount Veeder and Carneros.
Newton is renowned for producing wines that are uniquely characterful expressions of varietals emblematic of the Napa Valley, notably Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Working patiently with nature, we are committed to precision viticulture and winemaking techniques yielding wines that are acclaimed for their balance, harmony and full, abundant 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.
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.