Professional Ratings

• 95 Jeb Dunnuck
  There are three Chardonnay. Starting with the 2018 Chardonnay Sierra Mar Vineyard, it's a mix of the Hyde and Monty clones and saw 38% new French oak. Its medium gold hue gives way to rich, impressively textured effort that has a touch of Burgundian vibe in its stone fruits, melon, brioche, toasted bread, and peach aromas and flavors. Nicely textured, with integrated acidity, background oak, and outstanding length, it's the biggest, richest Chardonnay in the lineup. It needs air to show at its best and I suspect will be even better this time next year.
• 93 Wine Spectator
  Stylish and well-crafted, with concentrated ripe white fruit flavors, accented by lemon drop notes. Buttered toast and flan details show on the creamy finish, complemented by hints of dried tarragon. Drink now through 2025.
• 92 Wine Enthusiast
  Lemon blossom, yellow apple, fresh lime, light cream and crushed chalk aromas make for a subtle yet inviting nose on this bottling. The palate is balanced between a chalky mouthfeel and browned butter, lemon juice, warm brioche and sea salt flavors.
• 90 Connoisseurs' Guide

  Here, again, is a relatively full and substantial Chardonnay whose fruity credentials are never in doubt, and, like both of its mates, it takes on added richness from a liberal appointment of creamy oak sweetness. It is, by a small margin, the ripest seeming of the Roar trio, but it never tips to excess even if it shows a slight rise in heat at the finish. While richness, rather than finesse, is its larger concern at the moment, it offers tantalizing glimmers of complexity to come with the structured solidity to reward several more years of cellaring.