Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Even better, the 2017 Chardonnay Durell Vineyard comes from a great terroir on the Sonoma Coast and is prettier and more vibrant, with classy notes of white peach, white flowers, pineapple cream, and flinty minerality. With medium body, high yet integrated acidity, and a great finish, it’s well worth the extra effort to track down.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Tor’s block of the Durell Vineyard is on the “Sand Hill” section of the vineyard, looking down on the Sonoma Valley. The soil is Goulding clay loam, mixed with diatomaceous earth, and millions of years ago, it formed a sand bar reaching into the prehistoric lake that covered the town of Sonoma. Tor favors the Wente clone in this vineyard, which is a selection of plant material that sets a small crop with small berries. The result is a high skin-to-flesh ratio and great concentration of varietal character. The single new barrel cooper used is Saury. The 2017 Tor Chardonnay Durell Vineyard is slightly closed on the nose, opening out to honeyed peaches, lemon tart, melons and savory/toasty notes with yeasty hints. The palate is full-bodied with great intensity of savory flavors, finishing long, satiny and very savory. 343 cases produced.
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James Suckling
Aromas of dried apples, pears and limes. Hot stones and minerals. Medium-to full-bodied, dense and firm. Vivid and stony.
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Wine Spectator
Big and rich-tasting, with a minerally edge to the dried fig, quince and apple pastry flavors. Intensely spicy 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.
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.