Winemaker Notes
A classic Chardonnay from start to finish. Aromas of floral honey, fresh green pear, and notes of brown sugar compliment flavors of golden apple, sea salt, and spiced nuts thanks to aging in toasted French oak. A medium bodied mouthfeel with refreshing acidity leads way to a creamy, rich, and lengthy finish.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
Starts off expressive, broad and rich, with details of lemon blossoms, salted ripe cantaloupe, buttery apple pastry, ginger and marzipan. However, this has plenty of precision and freshness to the thread of crisp acidity, which keeps the flavors in focus and the finish sharp. Drink now through 2033.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Creamy and opulent without feeling overblown, this barrel-aged Chardonnay has a solid backbone of tropical fruit and zippy acidity. Crème brûlée, ripe Bosc pear, passion fruit and pie spices emerge after a few swirls of the glass.
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.