Winemaker Notes
The 2021 Chardonnay showcases a brilliant play of structure, intensity and elegance. Aromas of almond, jasmine, ground ginger and lemon meringue pie flow from the glass. On the palate, citrus, lemongrass and toasted brioche take center stage, accompanied by tropical notes and hints of stone fruit. The boisterous acidity, voluminous texture and stunning minerality of this wine lead into a flinty, persistent finish. The 2021s will age gracefully for many years.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is so intense and wild with Meyer lemon, Korean pear, green lemon, and lime. Piercing pineapple and focused acidity that gives incredible length and intensity. The density and texture with solid phenolics and so much flavor and vivid energy is really impressive along with the electric finish. Full body. Agile palate. Wente and Mount Eden clone.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Chardonnay The Estate is delightfully decadent and almost feels like a guilty pleasure—it's so packed with flavor! It has gregarious aromatic layers of warm peach, summer honey, candied citrus and wafts of allspice. The medium-bodied palate is luxuriously satiny and features expansive, concentrated flavors. Despite its generosity, it maintains balance with bright acidity, and it has an epically long finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Revealing a medium straw hue with youthful green highlights, the 2021 Chardonnay The Estate offers gorgeous, fresh, floral aromas of lemon curd, pastry cream, cheese rind, sweet baking spices, and ripe pear. With fresh acidity, medium body, ample ripe fruit, and a sound structure, it’s fresh and long on the palate, with well-balanced richness that also feels decadent. Drink 2024-2035.
Rating: 96+ -
Wine Spectator
Packs intense lemon and litsea oil aromatics up front, with a firm, crunchy note to the acidity and generous green pear, lemon, pineapple and jasmine accents on a sleek, juicy frame. Reveals smoked salt and a crisp, zesty finish, with plenty of torque.
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.
On the far western edge of the larger Sonoma Coast appellation, the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA hugs right up against the Pacific coast. Vineyards, planted at rugged elevations between 920 to 1,800 feet, occupy only two percent of the total land in the AVA. Fort Ross-Seaview growers believe that the region boasts an ideal mix of sunshine, cool air and beneficial stress for producing high quality Chardonnay and Pinot noir.