Winemaker Notes
This 2024 Estate Chardonnay is a medium-bodied wine with beautiful bright lemon color and offers alluring aromas of citrus blossom, honeysuckle, orchard fruit, and Stuhlmuller Vineyard’s signature wet stone minerality. The lovely fruit continues through the palate, where it is accentuated by harmonious acidity, and subtle notes of lemon cream, brown baking spices and salt-roasted cashews.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Focused aromas of green apple, ripe Anjou pear, Meyer lemon, and floral-herb potpourri drive the nose of this native fermented Chardonnay. The palate is bright and acid-forward, with flavors of nectarine, pineapple, chalky minerality, and salty lemon peel throughout a long finish.
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Wine Spectator
A full-bodied and balanced wine with aromas of white and yellow roses, peaches, nectarines and green mangoes. Plush, mouth-filling texture with flavors of lemons and pomelo. Broad but fresh acidity and a long, mouthwatering finish. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A brilliant medium yellow color, the 2024 Chardonnay Estate is bottled under screwcap and saw 10 months in 6% new French oak. It reveals honeysuckle, beeswax, melon, and poached pear. Medium to full-bodied, attractive, and fruity without weight, it has refreshing lift and delicate salinity. Drink it over the next couple years.
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.
Nearly a northern extension of Napa Valley, Alexander Valley starts just north of the small, Knights Valley, and is just a few minutes drive from the Napa town of Calistoga. It is Sonoma County’s hottest AVA. But the Russian River, which runs through the valley, creates cooler pockets and its soft, alluvial soil is ideal for grape growing, especially Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact, some believe that Alexander Valley Cabernets truly rival the best from Napa Valley and many of the heavy-hitter producers have largely invested here.
In addition to Cabernet Sauvignon, which makes up over 50% of plantings, Merlot and old vine Zinfandel thrive here. Ample, fleshy Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc dominate white wine production. Some old-vine plantings of Grenache have also been discovered and more recent experiments with Sangiovese and Barbera show great promise.