Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A very classic style, the 2013 Chardonnay Santa Barbara County exhibits lots of orchard fruits, white peach and a touch of citrus to go with a soft, rounded, supple and medium-bodied feel on the palate. Possessing more fruit than the Sta. Rita Hills release, yet not the same level of precision or cut, drink this forward, delicious effort over the coming 2-3 years.
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Wine & Spirits
If you can’t afford Sandhi’s single vineyard chardonnays, this is a great introduction to their style. Sourced from several 30- to 40-year-old own-rooted blocks in the warmer, east side of the Santa Ynez Valley, as well as Bien Nacido, it’s more accessible than some of Sandhi’s more angular Santa Rita Hills wines, yet its juicy golden-apple flavors remain rigorously dry and spicy, lees rounding out the texture into a savory plumpness that suggests mushrooms as much as fruit. It’s rich enough for pan-seared scallops. (
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.
A lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.