Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Chardonnay Green Acres Vineyard charges from the glass with intense grapefruit, lemon curd, white peach and cedar with hints of brioche and honeysuckle. Elegantly seamless with a medium to full-body and silken texture, the concentrated stone fruit and citrus flavors go on and on.
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Wine Enthusiast
Golden Delicious apple, stone fruit and honey star in this vineyard-designate, a showcase for baked apple seasoned in nutmeg. Gravelly texture supports full-bodied flavor and a strength of toasted oak lightly suggestive in vanilla.
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Wine Spectator
Offers appealing vibrancy and intensity of flavor, slightly tamed by notes of smoky, toasty oak. Ends somewhat prematurely, but has room to grow, showing movement and velocity. Drink now.
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.