Winemaker Notes
The 2017 Wingtine Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is an elegant harmony between bright acidity and lush summer fruit. Fresh white peach and ripe cantaloupe deftly coalesce with Bartlett pear and dried lemon rind for a refreshing introduction. Nuances of baking spices and toasted wheat lend roundness and warmth, while a lively minerality lingers on the finish. Both approachable and compelling, the Wingtine is quickly becoming a Chardonnay classic.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Chardonnay Wingtine comes from a handful of sites and is always a good introduction to the vintage. Fermented and aged in 10% new oak, it offers a classic Burgundian bouquet of stone fruits, crushed citrus, some obvious minerality, and a kiss of oak. It has a beautiful freshness as well as an alluring reductive quality that's balanced by beautiful fruit and texture. It's a beautiful, elegant wine.
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.