Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Chardonnay La Carriere gave the Morlets everything they wanted – great quality and abundant quantity. There are over 2,500 cases of this magnificent wine that flirts with perfection. The harvest occurred a month earlier than it did in 2011, and the result is a wine with terrific acidity and freshness, and amazing delineation for its full-bodied, powerful, opulent, corpulent style. There are lots of orange blossom, poached pear, white peach and pineapple notes in this big, rich, definitive Chardonnay that should drink well for a decade. Range 96-98.
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Wine Spectator
Combines amazing richness and sharply defined fruit in a sleek, tapered style that's graceful and elegant, unfolding to offer honey-laced green apple, pear, peach and fig notes shaded by smoky, toasty oak and ending with a long, sustained finish. Drink now through 2020.
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James Suckling
This is solid as a rock with a lovely, dense texture and gorgeous apple, lemon cream and vanilla. Full body with a balance of acidity and ripe fruit. Mineral. Slate. So intense. Drink or hold.
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 small and picturesque valley separating Napa Valley on its south border and Alexander Valley to its north, Knights Valley excels in similar varieties as the two aforementioned appellations, namely red Bordeaux varieties and blends, as well as Sauvignon blanc. Originally established by Beringer Vineyards, today several outstanding producers claim acreage here. The circadian cooling effects of the nearby Pacific Ocean create a nighttime respite for vineyards during the hot growing season.