Wente Eric's Unoaked Chardonnay 2016

  • 93 Tasting
    Panel
  • 90 Wine
    Enthusiast
3.9 Very Good (6)
2020 Vintage In Stock
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Wente Eric's Unoaked Chardonnay 2016 Front Bottle Shot
Wente Eric's Unoaked Chardonnay 2016 Front Bottle Shot Wente Eric's Unoaked Chardonnay 2016 Front Label

Product Details


Varietal

Region

Producer

Vintage
2016

Size
750ML

ABV
13.5%

Features
Green Wine

Your Rating

0.0 Not For Me NaN/NaN/N

Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

This unoaked Chardonnay is a favored style of Fourth Generation Winegrower, Eric Wente. It is clear and bright with medium weight, intriguing minerality and a touch of creaminess. This wine exhibits aromas of green apple, lemon citrus, white peach and pineapple with hints of jasmine and mandarin orange. An excellent balance between fruit and acidity make this wine refreshing and food friendly.

Professional Ratings

  • 93

    Small-lot estate-grown fruit creates pizzazz in the glass. This energetic, creamy white offers fragrances of magnolia blossom, lilac, McIntosh apple, and vanilla bean; mirroring the aroma, the taste profile is extroverted and gregarious with a range of food. I love the weightiness with a finish of white tea and flower petal tannins. Aged sur lie for four months in stainless steel tanks.

  • 90
    This is a very good example of an unoaked Chardonnay. It has lots of zingy fresh-fruit aromas, lively citrus and green-apple flavors and good supportive acidity to keep the mouthfeel tangy. Winemaker Karl Wente made this one to please his no-frills dad, Eric Wente.

Other Vintages

2020
  • 93 Tasting
    Panel
2018
  • 92 Tasting
    Panel
Wente

Wente Vineyards

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Wente Vineyards, California
Wente Vineyards Family Owned and Certified Sustainable Winery Video

Founded in 1883, Wente Vineyards is the country’s longest continuously family-owned and operated winery. Today, the winery maintains its leadership role in California winegrowing under the ownership and management of the fourth and fifth generations of the Wente family. Blending traditional and innovative winemaking practices, the winery draws from its sustainably-farmed vineyards to create an outstanding portfolio of wines. The family owns and operates vineyards in two world-class regions of the Central Coast of California - Livermore Valley and Arroyo Seco, Monterey. Located just east of San Francisco in the historic Livermore Valley, Wente Vineyards is recognized as one of California’s premier wine country destinations, featuring wine tasting, food and wine experiences, and championship golf.

In 1912, 2nd Generation Ernest Wente persuaded his father and founder, C.H. Wente, to import Chardonnay cuttings from a well-known vine nursery, F. Richter Nursery in Montpellier, France, to the Livermore Valley. Ernest hand-picked vines that showed the best health and pronounced flavors, grafted the two together and propagated those characteristics forward. Ultimately creating what is known as the ‘Wente Clone.’ Today, over 75% of all California Chardonnay stems from the Wente Clone and the Wente Family property.

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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.

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Livermore Valley Wine

Central Coast, California

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A warm sub-appellation of the greater San Francisco Bay AVA (American Viticultural Area), Livermore Valley mainly hides behind the shielding effects of the bay’s eastern hills. However, late afternoon winds cool down summer nights as daytime heat rises from the Central Valley in the east, pulling the cold, foggy, bay air inland. This cooler evening air permeates the Livermore Valley's foothills, making this an ideal environment for the development of phenolic ripeness and concentration in its wine grapes.

The Livermore Valley is one of California's oldest wine regions and has played a crucial role in shaping California's wine industry. Spanish missionaries planted the first wine grapes in the Livermore Valley in the 1760s. Then in the mid 1800s, a man named Robert Livermore planted the area’s first commercial vineyards. Winemaker pioneer C. H. Wente arrived a few years later; today the Wente Chardonnay clone is the source of a majority of California Chardonnay. Furthermore, James Concannon and the Wetmore brothers recognized the virtues of the area’s Bordeaux-like gravel soils and dedicated themselves to making high quality wine from Bordeaux varieties. Today the area is also known for high quality Petite Sirah.

SWS475896_2016 Item# 361021

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