Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Estate Chardonnay opens with notes of crushed shell, slivered almond and toast, giving way to Golden Delicious apple, apricot and white peach with hints of spring honey and white blossoms. It's medium-bodied with intense, savory fruits, juicy acidity and a very long, attractively textured, honey-accented finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Chardonnay Spear Estate comes all from the Estate Vineyard and spent 10 months in neutral oak. It has a beautiful Burgundian reductive hint as well as notes of orchard fruits, white flowers, toasted bread, and hazelnut. Medium-bodied, rounded, and supple on the palate, it's beautifully balanced and, even at the $35 price point, represents a smoking value.
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Wine Enthusiast
Savory aromas of sandalwood and toasted hazelnuts combine with seared oak and preserved lemon aromas on the nose of this bottling from a newer estate. Lemon rinds show strongly on the palate as do Asian pear flesh and green-pear peels. It's tightly woven and sharp in texture.
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 superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.