Winemaker Notes
The Les Pierres Vineyard is known worldwide for its rocky soil that infuses the grapes – and the wine – with varied mineral essence. The result is a single vineyard wine that is complex, elegantly structured and a favorite among Chardonnay drinkers.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Sonoma-Cutrer Les Pierres Chardonnay is beautiful and intricate. TASTING NOTES: This wine is complete, and desires to be pair with your best Chardonnay-centric dish. Enjoy its generous aromas and flavors of lime citrus, oak, and mineral with oven-roasted pork chops decorated with Fresno chilies. (Tasted: December 3, 2019, 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.