Winemaker Notes
This inviting nose balances fresh floral notes of honeysuckle, chamomile and magnolia with deeper tones of apricot, candied lemon and beeswax. A touch of slate and wet stone energize the aromatics. The broad mouth is layered with white peach, quince, meringue. lemon grass and a thread of salted caramel throughout. The juicy acidity tinged with crushed seashell, bright and playful calling for another sip.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Showing bright Sicilian lemon, white grapefruit, matchstick, apricots and white tea aromas. Clean and deliciously creamy, with a medium to full body and focused finish.
-
Wine Spectator
Rich yet steely, with handsome flavors of pear and apple that build structure and polish toward the spicy finish. Drink now. 2,034 cases made.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A medium yellow hue, the 2021 Chardonnay Laurelwood District is juicy with notes of melon, wet stone, candied citrus, and a rounded touch of oak spice. Medium-bodied, with fresh energy balanced with ripe fruit and a citrus-driven finish with a light saline touch.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Yellow apple slices, toasted filbert and dry, crunchy oak leaf aromas make for a fall-like nose. Flavors like white peach and lemon verbena glide along a creamy texture, joined by a trace of wet slate and soft acidity
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Chardonnay Laurelwood District has alluring aromas of white peach, quince, beeswax and cracked almonds. The light-bodied palate has a silky texture, vibrant acidity framing its saline-laced fruit and a long, nuanced finish.
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.
The Chehalem Mountains is a northwest-southeast span of several distinct mountains, ridges and peaks in the northern part of the Willamette Valley. Of all of Willamette Valley's smaller AVAs, it is closest to the city of Portland. Its highest summit, Bald Peak at an elevation of 1,633 feet, serves to generate cooler air for the rest of the AVA and its hillside vineyards. The region covers 70,000 acres but only 1,600 acres are planted to vines; soils of the Chehalem Mountains are a mix of basalt, ocean sediment and loess.