Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
There are some in the wine business who dismiss Chardonnay as a "boring" wine grape—and indeed, this is often the case. Fortunately, the 2013 Small Vines Wines Sonoma Coast Chardonnay takes the road less traveled and takes the variety into uncharted territory. Winemaker Paul Sloan and his wife Kathryn are producing wines in the most traditional way possible, and they have succeeded. When Paul visited our Wine.com offices to talk wine, we were spellbound by his stories. After starting out as a young wine steward at John Ash & Co in Santa Rosa, he became an ardent student of the grape, eventually making the "requisite" pilgrimage to Burgundy. The resultant wine is more than a pure expression of Chardonnay- it is a statement of respect for Mother Nature and all that she grows. Rich with core fruit aromas and flavors, this wine delivers a wild, natural streak that finishes with excellent vitality. Drinking well now, with fine aging potential. (Tasted: June 20, 2016, 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.