Winemaker Notes
This Chardonnay is well-balanced and full bodied with a bright acidity, making it a perfect pairing with a wide range of fare.
Blend: 100% Chardonnay
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Honeyed floral aromas make for a welcoming start. Toasty vanilla wafer and peach pie are regaled by a keen acid structure. Chamomile and juicy peach charm on the mid- palate, delivering more floral tones to the full, rich body. Beautifully balanced.
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Wine Enthusiast
Offering a reliably tropical spin on Chardonnay each vintage, this bottling shows ample restraint, starting with tight aromas of jasmine, melon and pineapple cream. The palate is clean and crisp though still tropical, with pineapple, mangosteen and light tuberose flavors.
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 geographic and climatic paradise for grape vines, Monterey is a part of the greater Central Coast AVA and contains within it five smaller sub-appellations, including Arroyo Seco, San Lucas, San Bernabe, Hames Valley and the famous Santa Lucia Highlands. The climate is relatively warm but tempered by cool, coastal winds, allowing the regions in Monterey County an exceptionally long growing season. Bud break often happens two weeks sooner and harvest tends to be two weeks later compared to other surrounding regions.
Monterey’s coastal side, where the cooling ocean fog allows grapes to develop a perfect sugar-acid balance, excels in the production of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Warmer, inland subzones are home to fleshy, concentrated and full-bodied reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.
Chardonnay, covering about 40% of vineyard acreage, is the most widely planted grape in all of Monterey County.