Winemaker Notes
Notes of clementine, citrus rind and wet stone.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Deliciously crisp in tangerine, this lovely white features a pear-like creaminess on the midpalate, a complex complement that tangles through structured, nuanced elegance. This boasts fruit from several vineyard designates, including grapes from Zephyr (80% of the mix), Red Car estate (13%) and Mohrhardt (7%).
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Jeb Dunnuck
Starting with the 2018 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast, this light gold-hued 2018 offers lots of crushed citrus and stone fruit notes as well as a touch of white flowers and spice, medium body, a light, elegant texture, and a great finish. It's a balanced, elegant, classy Sonoma Coast Chardonnay to enjoy over the coming 2-3 years.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Red Car Sonoma Coast Chardonnay speaks well of this AVA. TASTING NOTES: This wine deftly combines classic aromas and flavors of tart apple and mineral nuances. Serve it with grilled halibut in a light wine reduction sauce. (Tasted: March 18, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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.