Winemaker Notes
The 2021 Affinite´s Chardonnay pops with citrus blossom, lemon curd and quince. These lovely aromatics then give way to hints river rock, fresh rain and baked apples. Minerality and wet stone on the palate unfold to reveal flavors of lemon zest and tart candied apples. Tightly grained French oak nuance and fruit driven intensity add weight and power as the wine continues to drive forward. This impressive chardonnay is defined by its linear precision and consistent tension. There is a remarkable purity here, an electricity of bound energy that cannot be mistaken for anything other than a wine of significance and ageability.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Whispers of lemon curd and fresh mint soften the brace of crisp green apples and limes in this spirited, salt-licked Chardonnay produced by Jean-Nicolas Méo of Méo-Camuzet fame, music mogul Jay Boberg and the American winemaker Tracy Kendall. Vinified entirely in neutral French oak with ambient yeast, it's full-bodied and delightfully supple but pulsates with freshness and transparency too. Delicious young but should evolve beautifully over the next decade.
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Wine Enthusiast
The Affinités is one ener- getic wine, with lemon, butter and toasted filbert aromas joined by a trace of melting beeswax. The wine’s crisp mouthfeel is right at home with zippy acidity and flavors of tangerine, thyme and gin botanicals like juniper berry and cardamom. Serve with halibut steaks grilled with lemon and garlic.
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Wine & Spirits
A spectacular assemblage in 2021, this wine combines fruit from three vineyard sources including Spirit Hill, the winery’s highest-elevation and coolest site. That may be giving the wine its drive and elegance, salty and bright, laced with citrus-tinged apple flavors and caramelly lees. There’s a layering to the savor and the fruit here that is at once completely seductive and fine, with a suede-like texture for pasta with a mushroom cream sauce.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A blend of their sites, including Bishops Creek and Sprit Hill, the 2021 Chardonnay Affinites pours a youthful bright yellow and is expressive with aromas of ripe Willaims pear, wet stone, honeysuckle, and fresh melon. Medium to full-bodied, it displays an attractive, supple texture with elegant, ripe fruit and a long finish.
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James Suckling
This smooth, balanced, yet fresh-tasting wine is blended from several sites in the northern Willamette Valley and offers appetizing, bright, fresh apples and light oak spices. Charming and drinkable now, but no hurry.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The barrel-fermented 2021 Chardonnay Affinités grows in expression as it spends time in the glass, unfurling scents of elderflower, meringue, hazelnuts, honey and flint. The medium-bodied palate derives power from concentrated, honey-laced flavors and a touch of textural grip. It's balanced by vibrant acidity and has a long, layered finish.
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Wine Spectator
Refined and precise, offering expressive flavors of apple and lemon laced with orange blossom and spice notes. Drink now through 2025. 440 cases made.
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 Pinot Noir's most successful New World outposts, the Willamette Valley is the largest and most important AVA in Oregon. With a continental climate moderated by the influence of the Pacific Ocean, it is perfect for cool-climate viticulture and the production of elegant wines.
Mountain ranges bordering three sides of the valley, particularly the Chehalem Mountains, provide the option for higher-elevation vineyard sites.
The valley's three prominent soil types (volcanic, sedimentary and silty, loess) make it unique and create significant differences in wine styles among its vineyards and sub-AVAs. The iron-rich, basalt-based, Jory volcanic soils found commonly in the Dundee Hills are rich in clay and hold water well; the chalky, sedimentary soils of Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton and McMinnville encourage complex root systems as vines struggle to search for water and minerals. In the most southern stretch of the Willamette, the Eola-Amity Hills sub-AVA soils are mixed, shallow and well-drained. The Hills' close proximity to the Van Duzer Corridor (which became its own appellation as of 2019) also creates grapes with great concentration and firm acidity, leading to wines that perfectly express both power and grace.
Though Pinot noir enjoys the limelight here, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay also thrive in the Willamette. Increasing curiosity has risen recently in the potential of others like Grüner Veltliner, Chenin Blanc and Gamay.