Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Supple and smooth, with good purity to the core of apricot and peach flavors. Shows a dollop of marmalade and lemon meringue, plus hints of marzipan and candied orange peel. Complex and seamless on the long, expressive finish, with a vibrant thread of acidity.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast is a bright medium yellow/straw hue and lifts with savory notes of saline, toast, chamomile, fresh ginger, and white peach. Full-bodied, with salty accents, crisp, refreshing acidity, and concentrated lemon candy tones on the finish.
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Vinous
The 2023 Chardonnay (Sonoma Coast) is absolutely fabulous, especially considering the very large scale of production (30,000+ cases). Fermented in barrel entirely with native yeast, the 2023 is supple, polished and fresh as a daisy. Apricot, pineapple, orange curd and sweet spices explode through the mid-palate and into the finish as subtle phenolics perk up on the close. This is a very complete wine, and a total winner at this price point.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of fresh tangerine, Gala apple, pineapple sage, vanilla, and citrus blossom drive the nose of this balanced and nimble Chardonnay. The palate brings fresh acid and a bit of barrel structure, with punchy flavors of Meyer lemon zest, green pear, white flowers, and cinnamon lingering on the finish.
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.