Winemaker Notes
About the Blend: With the Woodstock soundtrack blaring in the cellar, our winemaker crafted this custom Chardonnay from premium Mendocino County fruit, blending a one-of-a kind wine with Rock 'n Roll mythology. The music of Woodstock celebrates community, individual expression, and breaking with the past. Inspired by this message, Winemaker Mark Beaman created a "naked" style Chardonnay. Unlike other regions which grow more muted flavored Chardonnays (which are then dressed up with oak and malolactic fermentation), Woodstock Chardonnay is an expression of pure fruit character and the land it was grown on.
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 large and diverse appellation within California’s North Coast AVA, Mendocino is home to several smaller sub-regions—most notably the Anderson Valley. This scenic region, with rolling hills covered in redwood forests as well as vineyards, is one of the world’s top producers of certified organically-grown grapes. Due to wide geographical and climatic variation, a vast array of wine styles can be found here.