Winemaker Notes
The wine's lush profile welcomes you with lemon meringue and subtle hints of clove and cinnamon, creating an intoxicating aroma. Flavors of tart candy, baked apples, and spices unfold, offering a harmonious blend of sweetness and spice. This is a vintage to remember, as the richness and mouthfeel leaves a lasting impression.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
This is enduringly interesting thanks to the interplay between nutty, gently spicy notes derived from high-class cooperage and fruit conveying freshness as well as full ripeness, with nuances of vanilla and caramel serving to accent golden apple and white peach. Already evolving toward full integration despite showing distinct elements, the wine is showing beautifully now.
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Wine Enthusiast
Superripe pineapple, papaya and guava aromas burst from the nose of this Chardonnay, with pithy grapefruit, sage and white pepper flavors emerging on the palate. This wine is fermented and aged sur lie in a combination of stainless steel, concrete and amphorae, preserving the snappy acidity. Fans of unoaked Chardonnay will LOVE this wine.
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Vinous
The 2022 Chardonnay Durell Vineyard is bright, finely sculpted and dynamic in the glass. Light on its feet and nuanced, the 2022 has so much to offer. Tangerine peel, passion fruit, white flowers and chalk offer a beguiling interplay of overtly tropical flavors and vibrant, mineral-laced inflections. The airy, lifted finish is quite lovely.
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Wine Spectator
Generous lemon curd, crème anglaise and wildflower honey notes are lush and smooth on a creamy frame.Accents of cardamom,nutmeg and pear pastry, along with a salted butterscotch detail, are complex and harmonious on the finish. A clear thread of acidity weaves in and out, keeping the flavors fresh and bright.
Three Sticks Wines is a boutique, family-owned winery recognized for pinot noir and chardonnay. Proprietor Bill Price III (nicknamed “Billy Three Sticks”) owns six Grand Cru level estate vineyards in Sonoma County, including three Heritage vineyards–Durell, Gap’s Crown, and Walala and three Monopole vineyards–One Sky, Alana, and William James. An intimate relationship with each property shines through in each of the Three Sticks wines, reflecting a keen understanding of how working with great vineyards, along with a meticulous winemaking style, produces inspiring results.
The Vallejo-Castenada Adobe (built in 1842) was built by Captain Salvador Vallejo, brother of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the Commandante Generale of the northern territory of Mexico (modern day Sonoma). The Prices purchased the property in 2012 and embarked on a two-year preservation project. The Three Sticks team worked with Sonoma historians and the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation to restore and protect the fabric of the property. They commissioned San Francisco-based designer Ken Fulk and his team to design the ambience of the Adobe, as it is known locally. The historic landmark in downtown Sonoma is now home to the hospitality of Three Sticks.
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.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.