Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This fine marriage of site and winemaker shows experience and intuition at work, presenting a full-bodied, lush and plush expression of tremendous depth and complexity. It offers notes of tart apple, licorice and a wealth of orange zest, which adds a touch of citrusy crispness to the naturally buoyant minerality and nuanced oak. It has much more to share; drink now through 2020. Cellar Selection.
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James Suckling
Intense aromas of sliced clementines, lemon rind and stones. Lime, too. Medium to full body and tangy acidity. A wine that attracts you with its aromas.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard is another wine made from the Hyde/Wente clone of Chardonnay that is small-berried and sees about 45% new French oak. The wine shows crisp, elegant citrus oil notes, pear, honeysuckle and a touch of tangerine oil (or is it orange marmalade?). The wine reveals great acidity and loads of citrus fruit. It is a completely different expression of the Wente clone from the Hyde and Hudson vineyards – and all the better for it.
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Wine Spectator
Elegantly styled and deftly balanced, with a mix of spicy oak, light pear, peach and nectarine flavors, shaded by subtle nutmeg notes. Gains depth and nuance.
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.