Winemaker Notes
There’s substance and impact but not in the more typical thickly tropical fruity way. Salty seashells, pine and blossoms take up center stage now, especially when after just pulling the cork. Sweet lemon and juicy apple/pear emerges with some air, but still the wine is taut and earthy.
Pairs well with creamy chicken dishes or steaky fish like Ventura white seabass.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From one of my favorite vineyards in Santa Maria, the 2017 Chardonnay Solomon Hills Vineyard is another rich, powerful wine from this team. While slightly closed aromatically, it has plenty of fruit, medium to full body, lots of salty minerality, and a great finish. Beautifully balanced, concentrated, and just straight-up impressive, give bottles a year or two in the cellar.
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Wine Enthusiast
Very bright and refreshing aromas of kaffir lime, lime blossom and lemongrass meet with gravel and strong chalk on the pinpoint nose of this bottling. There is great tactile energy to the sip, where a chalky structure carries lime pith and wet river-stone flavors. It's very Chablis-like in style.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay Solomon Hills is scented of hay, almonds, dried acacia, flint and baker's yeast with delicate apple and melon aromas plus a peachy tinge. The palate is medium to full-bodied with intense savory layers, very juicy acidity and a long, savory finish. 281 cases produced.
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.