Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Connoisseurs' Guide
This attractive Blanc de Blancs manages at one and the same time to be loaded with character yet remains also on the energetic, well-fruited side. Its aromas are more creamy than "old yeasty" with notes of chalk and vanilla sitting in for the toasty notes that come with longer aged wines. Firm and abundant in its foamy, insistent mousse, this buoyant wine has the richness to go with foods like chicken in cream sauces and the acidity to make it a stellar mate to tangy shellfish dishes.
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Wine Enthusiast
Made from 100% Chardonnay grapes, this bubbly is dry, elegant and will take some bottle age. It has rich and complex, but subtle, flavors of grilled peaches, pears, brioche, vanilla and smoke, with a spicy finish. Give it a few years for the edges to smooth out.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Reaching up California's coastline and into its valleys north of San Francisco, the North Coast AVA includes six counties: Marin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake. While Napa and Sonoma enjoy most of the glory, the rest produce no shortage of quality wines in an intriguing and diverse range of styles.
Climbing up the state's rugged coastline, the chilly Marin County, just above the City and most of Sonoma County, as well as Mendocino County on the far north end of the North Coast successfully grow cool-climate varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and in some spots, Riesling. Inland Lake County, on the other hand, is considerably warmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc produce some impressive wines with affordable price tags.