Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Chardonnay from Domaine Drouhin Roserock is absolutely stunning, and I simply can't put it down. It explodes with singular scents of fenugreek, sage and dried flowers streaked with graphite, and it glides across the palate like satin, an integrated tang drawing out lemongrass-like accents that add a touch of exoticism to this cuvée. It finishes with extraordinary length.
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Wine Enthusiast
The 2019 is a stellar vintage with tremendous vitality and precision. The crisp apple fruit is underscored with refreshing minerality. And as the wine breathes open, a lick of butterscotch runs through the finish. The ageability of top Oregon Chardonnays is just beginning to be noted outside of the state, but wines such as this will certainly enhance the reputation. Drink now through the mid-2030s.
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James Suckling
A complex, elegant white with nectarines, ripe apricots, toasted croissants, lemon curd and praline on the nose. It’s full-bodied with toasty and buttery layers balanced, by bright acidity. Creamy and delicious finish.
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.
Running north to south, adjacent to the Willamette River, the Eola-Amity Hills AVA has shallow and well-drained soils created from ancient lava flows (called Jory), marine sediments, rocks and alluvial deposits. These soils force vine roots to dig deep, producing small grapes with great concentration.
Like in the McMinnville sub-AVA, cold Pacific air streams in via the Van Duzer Corridor and assists the maintenance of higher acidity in its grapes. This great concentration, combined with marked acidity, give the Eola-Amity Hills wines—namely Pinot noir—their distinct character. While the region covers 40,000 acres, no more than 1,400 acres are covered in vine.