Winemaker Notes
This classic, medium-bodied Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is a staple for any wine lover and pairs well with smokey cheeses. many pasta dishes, and late summer vegetables. Try a glass with our asparagus ravioli in brown butter sauce for an exceptional wine experience.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: For many wine professionals and consumers, Sonoma- Cutrer is one of the top producers of cutting-edge Chardonnays. Over the decades, this winery has starred with its range of offers on the one grape variety. The 2016 Sonoma Coast is style, well-balanced an delicious. TASTING NOTES. This wine is redolent with ripe apple aromas and flavors. Its crisp and bright finish should pair it well with baked halibut. (Tasted: November 7, 2018, 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.