Winemaker Notes
Golden yellow in color. The aromas and flavors of fresh fruit such as apple, pear, and peach are amalgamated with mineral touches and orange peel. French oak adds notes of caramel and honey. It is a long-lasting wine in the mouth and very tasty.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of cooked apple, dried mango, salted caramel and toast. It’s full-bodied with crisp acidity and intense layers of stone and tropical-fruit flavors. Concentrated with lingering butterscotch and toast notes. Very long. Drink or hold.
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Vinous
The 2020 Chardonnay Alta Collection comes from San Pablo, Uco Valley, and was aged for eight months in first- and second-use French barrels. Dunnish green in color. The enticing, complex nose features notes of linden blossom, creamed corn, pears, herbs and acacia over a woody backdrop. Unctuous but fresh on the palate; the flow is both creamy and nimble, followed by a long finish where the oaky and varietal flavors combine. A well-made wine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The varietal, medicinal and creamy 2020 Alta Collection Chardonnay was produced with fruit from high-altitude vines in San Pablo. It was produced in an oxidative way, fermenting and aging it in 500-liter oak barrels with the lees and bâtonnage. It has a balsamic profile, notes of herbs and flowers and a touch of sweetness on the finish.
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.
By far the largest and best-known winemaking province in Argentina, Mendoza is responsible for over 70% of the country’s enological output. Set in the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountains, the climate is dry and continental, presenting relatively few challenges for viticulturists during the growing season. Mendoza, divided into several distinctive sub-regions, including Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, is the source of some of the country’s finest wines.
For many wine lovers, Mendoza is practically synonymous with Malbec. Originally a Bordelaise variety brought to Argentina by the French in the mid-1800s, here it found success and renown that it never knew in its homeland where a finicky climate gives mixed results. Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir are all widely planted here as well (and sometimes even blended with each other or Malbec). Mendoza's main white varieties include Chardonnay, Torrontés, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.