Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chardonnay Richard Dinner Vineyard comes charging out of the glass with super intense grapefruit, green mango, lime leaves and lemon curd scents plus touches of baking bread, coriander seed, crushed rocks and nutmeg. Full-bodied and laden with citrus and tropical fruit layers in the mouth, the palate has wonderful tension and a compelling oiliness to the texture, finishing very long with a mineral kick.
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James Suckling
Aromas of lemon meringue, coconut and cooked apples. A richer California style. Full-bodied, layered and intense. Flamboyant and very long. Opulent.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and perfumed, a full-blown Chardonnay experience, with tiers of pear, honeysuckle, melon and citrus, enlivened by a pretty touch of oak. Long finish. Drink now through 2023.
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.
Defined more by altitude than geographical outline, the Sonoma Mountain appellation occupies elevations between 400 and 1,200 feet on the northern and eastern slopes of the actual Sonoma Mountain and is part of the greater Sonoma Valley appellation. The mountain reaches 2,400 feet; its hills separate the cooling winds of Petaluma Gap from the Sonoma Valley.
On a cooler western flank, Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Syrah enjoy a great deal of success. Vineyards on its warmer, eastern side, interspersed with heavily forested areas, tend to include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Syrah. Given its complexity of topography and mesoclimates, Sonoma Mountain excels with a wide range of grape varieties.