Winemaker Notes
Bien Nacido often provides a racier style of Chardonnay with their approach, but some years the wine skews a little richer. Take this 2021 bottling. It’s lively and moderate in alcohol, yet the gradual ripening in this cool vintage lent some riper character. It’s floral and minerally, but also shows some decadence with scents of brioche, light honey, streaks of marmalade and fresh pineapple. The crisp entry flows into rounder textures that give flavors of poached pear, spice and lemon curd, then it ebbs back into minerals and citrusy verve.
The ample textures and food-friendly balance make it the perfect thing to pair with rich seafood (think Oysters Rockefeller).
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard comes from one of the Grand Cru sites in California and has a classic style in its more honeyed orchard, musky orange, and pear-like fruits as well as chalky minerality and spice-driven nuances. Beautifully textured on the palate, it has a forward, supple mouthfeel, terrific balance, and a clean finish. Drink this any time over the coming decade.
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.
A lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.