Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Clean, bright, layered and well-defined apple, sweet citrus and creme brulee scents introduce this impressive Chardonnay, yet for all of their immediacy, the aromas also still on the youthfully tight side. The wine reiterates is twin themes of still nascent fruit and deep, promising character in its flavors that are both compelling in the near term yet capable of further knitting together to deliver all of their impressive potential. A year in bottle would be useful, but three years would be even better and are certain to be rewarding.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The three single vineyard Chardonnays are all from top sites, the Hudson and Hyde vineyards in Carneros, and the Russian River's Ritchie Vineyard. The 2006 Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard exhibits aromas of green apples, quince, white currants, and honeyed citrus in an impressive, medium to full-bodied style with beautiful fruit, a subtle dosage of wood, and a heady finish. Drink it over the next several years.
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Wine Spectator
Zingy acidity maintains the pure fruit personality of the floral, honeysuckle and honeydew melon flavors. Full-bodied, with light cedary oak shadings. Drink now through 2012.
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.