Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Seeing 20 months in 20% new barrels, the 2017 Chardonnay Woolsey Road Vineyard offers plenty of brioche and white flower nuances to go with rocking levels of Meyer lemon and tart pineapple fruit. It's rich, concentrated, and powerful on the palate, yet also has a racy spine of acidity that just about hits the tart level, yet never goes over the edge. This rocking Russian River Valley Chardonnay is going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and keep for over a decade. It's beautiful but needs short-term cellaring.
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Wine Spectator
Taut, with focused green apple, Asian pear and honeydew melon flavors, backed by vibrant acidity. Savory midpalate, leading to a finish filled with lemon meringue notes and minerally richness. Best from 2022 through 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay Woolsey Road Vineyard is savory and earthy with notes of roasted almonds, graphite, mushroom powder and a hint of honeycomb. The medium to full-bodied palate's expansive, silky character is contrasted by tangy acidity and rocky minerality, finishing very long and pure. It will benefit from another two to three years in bottle. Rating: 93+
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.