Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A full-bodied, creamy and crisp white with aromas and flavors of lemon curd, baked stone fruit, praline and butterscotch. Some smoke. Ripe, yet it remains elegant and precise. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Slightly more expensive, the 2018 Chardonnay Sangiacomo Vineyard Green Acres is a rockingly good Chardonnay that offers lots of buttered orchard fruits, flowers, brioche, honeysuckle, and a kiss of toasted bread on the nose. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied Chardonnay with plenty of fruit and mid-palate depth, integrated acidity, subtle oak, and a great finish. Enjoy this pleasure-bent, well-made Chardonnay over the coming 2-4 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Chardonnay Sangiacomo Green Acres has an understated nose of Golden Delicious apple, fresh pears and lightly browned toast with nuances of orange blossoms, ginger cake and lemon drops. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers a racy backbone and a suggestion of creaminess to the texture with restrained apple and spice flavors and a lively 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.
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.