Winemaker Notes
Pair this elegant Chardonnay with a creamy brie or butternut squash ravioli.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Tangy aromas of lemon curd meet with warmer touches of Marcona almonds and cider-laced popcorn on the dynamic nose of this bottling. The palate starts with a melted butter richness before tangy citrus peels and savory sea salts combine for a long finish, where both butterscotch and vanilla also make an appearance.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay Courtney's Vineyard gives up notions of ripe peaches, warm apple slices and honeydew melon with hints of ginger, white pepper and allspice. Medium to full-bodied, it has a pleasantly satiny texture and a complimentary kiss of toasty oak, finishing with a citrusy lift.
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.