Winemaker Notes
The 2019 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is a blend of 80% Peay Estate and 20% Searby fruit from Occidental in the southern West Sonoma Coast. The nose features youthful high-toned notes of crème brulée, biscuit, pear, and resin that interplay with a floral aroma typical of Peay Chardonnay. With a year or two more in bottle, these aromas will coalesce and move to the background allowing the citrus and stony aromas to lead as they have in the 2017 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. The mid-palate is silky without heaviness and emphasizes mineral flavors leaving a slightly salty after-taste
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of baked lemon and green apple, dried flowers and bark. Medium-bodied with nuance and delicacy. Structured and pleasant with a soft finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast features gregarious banana chip, toast, pastry, baked apples and beeswax on the nose. The palate is light-bodied and creamy with bright, mineral-driven fruit and a long, honeyed finish.
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Wine Spectator
The 2019 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast is lovely this vintage, with delicate floral perfume and fresh orchard fruits on the nose. The palate is charming, with a silky texture, pure, transparent fruits and a floral-tinged finish. It hints at more to come, and I'd give it another year or two in bottle.
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.