Winemaker Notes
The 2017 Racines Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay is creamy, open-knit and inviting. Incredibly delicious. Lemon confit, white flowers, mint and light tropical notes grace this subtle, gorgeous appellation-level wine from De Montille.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay opens with a bang, offering warm, welcoming scents of peach cobbler, pastry, honey-drizzled apples, honeysuckle, crushed stone, warm hay and a minerally hint with baking spice notes. Light to medium-bodied, it's slowly giving up all that generous spicy fruit in the mouth, with lovely chalky texture, tangy acidity and a long, layered finish. Yowza!
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Racines Sta. Rita Hills Cuvée Chardonnay presents a beautiful juxtaposition between the Old and New World. TASTING NOTES: This wine is active in all aspects of Chardonnay nuances. Enjoy its enticing aromas and flavors of savory spices and core fruit flavors with an oven-roasted capon accented with bacon and wild mushrooms. (Tasted: October 28, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Decanter
Racines Wine Co. is the Sta. Rita Hills-focused partnership between Justin Willett and Etienne de Montille, and their 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay is a straightforward expression of the place their collaboration calls home. Classic aromas of pear skin, lemon curd and buttered toast lead into a creamy and pure palate. The finish is crisp and energetic, with a floral and airy quality to the 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.
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.