Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Aromas of pear transition to the palate with vanilla. Smooth and creamy, with a bright acid structure; fresh and long.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and open-textured, with engaging red peach and Gala apple flavors that are lushly spiced, showing creamy richness on the finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Fort Ross Winery Sea Slopes Chardonnay is authentic and extended on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows up with aromas and flavors of savory spices, dried leaves, and bright apples. Enjoy it with a summer salad of sliced roast chicken, romaine lettuce, toasted sesame, and a hint of chili oil. (Tasted: May 18, 2021, 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.
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.