Winemaker Notes
Aromas of ripe peach, nectarine and melon, and a hint of walnut define the nose. Stone fruits continue on the palate. Bright acidity creates a crispness that’s perfect for food pairing or sipping on its own.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
As fabulous as ever, this brilliant compendium of nutty-toasty-buttery scents and flavors is never tiring. It's vivid, fruit-loaded and bracing. Well-ripened citrus and stone fruits come into focus, along with streaks of vanilla and lemongrass.
Editors’ Choice
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.
Yamhill-Carlton, characterized by pastoral, rolling hills composed of shallow, quick-draining, ancient marine soil, is ideal for Pinot noir and other cool-climate-loving varieties. It is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range to its west, whose highest point climbs to an altitude of 3,500 feet. Yamhill-Carlton is actually surrounded by mountains on three sides: Chehalem Mountains to the north, the Dundee Hills to the east and the western Coast Range to its west, which, when it lets Pacific air through, serves to cool the region.
Vineyards grow on the ridges surrounding the two small communities of Yamhill and Carlton and cover about 1,200 acres of this 60,000 acre region, which roughly makes a horse-shoe shape on a map.