Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Winemaker Erich Bradley blended this 2013 from three of the Sangiacomo family’s vineyards in northern Carneros and the Petaluma Gap, with some fruit from Durell in Sonoma Valley and Campbell Ranch on the far coast, mostly working with the Old Wente selection. The result is a compelling chardonnay with a gentle expansiveness, a green, seaweedy scent interlacing the fruit with an appetizing savor, while the wine’s rich curves find a foundation in pear-skin spice and crunchy grip.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast possesses white peach, apple butter, quince and white flower characteristics, medium body, striking concentration, and overall equilibrium. Enjoy this beauty over the next 3-4 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
From a selection of vineyard-designated sites, including Durell, Campbell Ranch and several Sangiacomo sites, this well-crafted blend is buzzing in minerality, a wet-stone character that overlays a depth of silky richness. Approachable now and yet structured for aging, its medium-level weight is awash in ripe apple and pear, finishing lean.
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.