Winemaker Notes
Golden yellow apple aromas mix with notes of spiced pear and starfruit. The spiced pear and crushed rock aromatics are undeniably from the old Wente selection of Chardonnay to which the vineyard is planted. The palate is focused with flavors of yellow and green apple and a touch of quince. Well-structured in the mouth, the wine offers a talcum powder-like texture and a subtle finish of quinine. This wine will pair wonderfully with rich foods.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This memorable white offers flavors of mango, pear and crème brûlée, with a seductive richness to the feel of the palate. The oak is integrated—it shows power and grace within a balanced body and touch of brine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chardonnay Olivet Lane Vineyard has an opulent nose of candied lemon peel, preserved ginger and honeycomb over a core of peach tart, poached pears and guava. Medium-bodied, the palate bursts with spices and stone fruit notions, with a racy backbone and long, creamy finish. 290 cases produced.
Rating: 93+ -
Wine & Spirits
The Pellegrini family planted this vineyard with a selection of Old Wente chardonnay vines in 1975, the age of those vines playing into this wine’s depth and fruit complexity. The flavors are bold and citrusy, contrasting high notes of lemon with bass notes of white truffles. The ample richness is tagged by a core of freshness, acidity that keeps the wine savory, pale and long.
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.
A standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.