Winemaker Notes
Enjoy this wine with fresh swordfish or sauteed sea scallops.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
White wine heaven, even though I often have a hard time applying the word, "minerality," to wines, this one has it. The precise and tightly-knit 2013 Talley Chardonnay plays in the realm of dried citrus, tangy core fruit and biting minerality. Some of this is under the radar at the moment, one just needs to enjoy this one over a slow meal and with friends who love wine. No question this wine is one of the best Chardonnays around.
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Wine Enthusiast
White peach cooked in browned butter, sea salt and apple slice aromas make for a delicious entry into this bottling from one of the few estate wineries in the appellation. Spiced apple and lemon salt flavors combine for a solid and ever-reliable palate, while a fresh-rainon-cement accent adds interest and depth.
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.
One of the coolest growing areas in California, the Arroyo Grande Valley runs from the southwest to the northeast, just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Central Coast AVA. Situated so that cold Pacific Ocean air and fog is allowed to filter into the valley, Arroyo Grande also has an incredibly long growing season. Bud break occurs in February in most years with flowering in May and harvest in late September; the area is classified as cool Mediterranean.
These weather factors combined with the soil types—continental and marine rocks, greywacke, limestone, shale and volcanic—create wines with great concentration and fresh acidity. The cooler end of the valley is perfect for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and is a good producer of sparkling wines. The warmer, more inland part of the valley is home to some of California’s oldest Zinfandel vines.