Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% chardonnay
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Bold fruit flavors are backed by great acidity in this full-bodied but super well-balanced wine. Poached pears, golden apples, quince, kiwis and subtle toasted oak. With 6.5 grams per liter acidity, the texture is bracing and vivid, pulling the flavors along for a lingering finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
On the nose, the 2023 Chardonnay George Menini Estate features alluring aromas of golden apples, honeycomb, cashews and jasmine. The medium-bodied palate balances a satiny texture and concentrated, honeyed flavors with a crescendo of fresh acidity, and it has a long, energetic finish. It will benefit from a few years in the cellar.
Rating: 94+ -
Wine Spectator
Complex and delicious, highlighting the fresh peach, apricot and pineapple flavors up front, plus notes of honey, buttery shortbread, salted caramel and grilled lemon. Lemon verbena, vetiver and nutmeg details grow on the finish, where all of the flavors gain extra momentum. Drink now through 2037.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.