Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay Sierra Mar has a tropical nose of pineapple and passion fruit with touches of brioche, butterscotch and cedar plus a waft of orange blossom. Medium to full-bodied, rich, opulent and concentrated, the palate is lifted by a wonderful backbone of freshness, and it finishes with lingering tropical notes. One for the hedonists! 307 cases were made.
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Wine Enthusiast
Plump Meyer lemon aromas meet rounded coconut, pineapple cream and honeysuckle on the nose of this bottling from the pioneering Franscioni family. On the palate, it's tightly wound, needing a second to breathe before revealing a sharp lemon peel freshness that cuts through the peachy fruit flavors.
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Wine Spectator
Concentrated dried ginger, ripe pear and pineapple flavors are richly spiced and intense. Buttery and rich on the finish, with hints of smoke.
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.
Perhaps the most highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.