Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Starting with the 2019 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast, this is a terrific, vibrant, and fresher style of Sonoma Coast Chardonnay with lots of citrus, melon, and pear fruit as well as a kiss of background toasty oak and subtle green almond notes. Nicely textured and medium-bodied, with racy acidity and just a clean, classic Sonoma Coast style, drink it over the coming 4-6 years.
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James Suckling
Aromas of grapefruit and fresh mint with wet-mineral character. Medium-bodied with notes of straw and brown butter coming through. Fresh, driving acidity.
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Wine Enthusiast
Juicy in pomelo, lemon and wet stone, this coastal white is mineral-driven and crisply structured, with a linear tension that makes it exciting. The oak is subtle and well integrated, adding a subtle twist of baking spice.
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.