Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a seamless, Old World and classic white, integrated in salty oak with a beautiful opening nose of lemon rind. Lifted, persistent acidity gives it focus and freshness, as a taste of briny oyster shell, lemongrass and Asian spice mingle around well-integrated thoughtful oak. This is a beautiful wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chardonnay Hyde Vineyard reveals evocative grapefruit, white peach and green mango notes with suggestions of fresh ginger, almond croissant and honeysuckle. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers a fantastic intensity of citrus and tropical flavors with a racy backbone and a long, mineral-laced finish.
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Wine & Spirits
The quality of Hyde Vineyard’s fruit comes through in the detailed yellow-herb and floral-apple savor of this chardonnay. Time in oak gave that fruit a toasty, roasted chamomile-tea scent. The texture is supple, the flavors spicy, intriguing and long, as if the wine had just enough apple sweetness to tighten up its structure, rather than the other way around. Target the wine’s floral-herbal tension at seared diver scallops with porcini mushrooms.
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James Suckling
An elegant chardonnay with lemon curd, sliced apples, apricots and peach flan. Medium to full body, balanced acidity and a medium-long finish. Drink now.
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.