Winemaker Notes
Pair alongside rich seafood dishes, such as BC Halibut, lobster with butter, and bacon-wrapped scallops. Also excellent with roasted chicken and creamy cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Nuts, lemon, nectarine and peach on the poised nose. Textured yet crisp, this is richer in style with very well-judged acid balance and rounded oak.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Quails' Gate Family Reserve Chardonnay offers excellent and lasting richness on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine brings pleasing aromas and flavors of ripe stone and core fruits. Pair it with grilled shellfish over pasta. (Tasted: July 7, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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.
Located just north of the state of Washington, British Columbia includes five distinct Geographical Indications; its vineyards mostly surround the cities of Vancouver and Victoria and include a few more inland locations. The region grows about 80 different varieties including Pinot gris, Chardonnay and Riesling as well as Merlot, Pinot noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.