Winemaker Notes
The 2021 Charles Heintz Chardonnay straddles the fence between elegance and power with marvelous depth and complexity, the Charles Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay straddles the fence between elegance and power. Layered notes of orange blossom, tangerine, vanilla, and flinty minerality add to the delightful texture on the palate. It is framed by a beautiful beam of acidity that makes it a superb food wine. In the glass and in the cellar this Chardonnay evolves beautifully with time.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard has layered scents of apricot, citrus blossoms, clover honey, bread dough and river stone. The light-bodied palate offers deeply concentrated citrus and mineral-driven fruit and bright acidity, resulting in a shimmery feel and an ethereal finish. Rating:92+
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.