Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Chardonnay Woolsey Road Vineyard is flamboyant in its maturity, scented of candied peaches, dried herbs and tropical tones adorned with touches of charcuterie, matchstick and mushroom. The medium-bodied palate has intense and unique herbal and smoke-laced flavors, maintaining lift and energy through the finish.
-
Connoisseurs' Guide
Showing the implicit richness and slight restraint that are the unmistakable marks of its maker, this ripe and yet tightly wound Chardonnay is again about promise as much or more so than it is about immediate gratification. It is supple and slightly oily on entry, but it is far from an open and outgoing wine and tends to narrow a bit and get a touch chalky as it crosses the palate with ample acidity closing in at the finish. It is slightly less fruity than its several cellarmates at this point, but it has the right stuff upon which to grow and will benefit from one or two years of smoothing.
-
Wine Spectator
Pure, dense and concentrated, offering a mix of pippin apple, citrus, crushed rock and light cedary oak flavors.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.