Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is incredible with fantastic depth and richness. Aromas and flavors of cooked apples, lemons and cream. Full body, creamy texture, fabulous length and intensity. Very long finish. Very complex, too.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With a gorgeous perfume of jasmine and exotic spices, the 2015 Chardonnay Mon Plaisir has a chalk and talc-laced nose over a core of white peaches, honeydew melons and green guava with a waft of baking bread. Medium-bodied, the palate possesses great elegance, with a satiny texture and generous stone fruit and tropical flavors, finishing with lingering perfumed fruit and toasty notes.
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.