Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The beautiful, Burgundian-styled 2014 Chardonnay Sangiacomo Vineyard exhibits notes of hazelnut, white peach and honeysuckle in a medium to full-bodied, beautifully fleshy style with outstanding purity and good acidity.
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Wine Enthusiast
Winemaker Phillip Corallo-Titus of Chappellet works here with the great Sangiacomo family to make an affordably impressive wine, from the oldest blocks he can get. He coaxes toasted oak and nougat from a darkly colored, viscous texture and intensity of ripe apple and baked apricot, the ending rich and rewarding.
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.