Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Chardonnay Diamond T Vineyard is decadent stuff. All barrel-fermented and aged for 14 months on lees in 45% new French oak, it's a rich, full-flavored effort that stays balanced and pure, with knockout detail and clarity on the palate. Offering up notes of grilled peaches, toast, honey, vanilla custard and flower oil, it's a full-bodied, balanced white that has great underlying acidity and focus.
I was blown away by these current releases and across the board the wines show beautiful balance and loads of class. In addition, the Kali Hart and Logan releases are serious values that should not be missed!
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.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.