Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with simple braised chicken thighs with Meyer lemons and olives, whole grilled fish, and cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
An approachable screwcap wine that is made in larger numbers than many of the producer's vineyard-designates, this is just as impressive in flavor and presence, employing less oak to provide a honeyed, tropical and fresh sensibility of drying tannin and a tangy finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2013 Saintsbury Carneros Chardonnay offers bright fruit and lots of it. With just a bare hint of oak, the wine stays bright and pretty in the flavors. Its crisp aftertaste makes it great match with simply prepared seafood. Drinks well now. (Tasted: May 24, 2016, 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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.