The Wine Advocate Issue 233, October 2017

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate Issue 233

2016 Chardonnay CIX Estate Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 98-100 Points

The 2016 Chardonnay CIX Estate is beguiling in its complexity and singularity, offering up scents of smoked nuts, waxed lemons, crushed rocks and coriander seed with hints of crusty bread, honeysuckle, baked peaches and clover honey. Full-bodied, full-on creamy and densely laden with layers of citrus and savory flavors, it has just enough freshness and wonderful length.

2016 Chardonnay Eastside Vineyard Russian River
Score: 97-100 Points

The 2016 Chardonnay Eastside Vineyard is scented of lemon tart, baking bread, crushed stones, clover honey and shaved almonds with hints of pure, sliced pears and Golden Delicious apples. Full-bodied, elegant, fine and restrained, the silken palate has a quiet intensity, finishing long with savory layers.

2016 Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard Carneros
Score: 96-98 Points

The 2016 Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard has a gorgeous nose of pear tart, aniseed, beeswax and honey toast with touches of salted almonds and a waft of baking bread. Full-bodied, rich and with a totally decadent creaminess to the texture, it features beautiful freshness and balance, finishing on a mineral note.

2016 Chardonnay Larry Hyde & Sons Vineyard Carneros
Score: 95-97 Points

The 2016 Chardonnay Larry Hyde and Sons Vineyard has a provocative savory/meaty nose with yeast extract, brine and nut nuances over a core of ripe pears and white peaches plus a waft of lime leaves. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with stone fruit and savory layers, with a lovely oiliness to the texture offset by a racy acid line, finishing long.

2016 Chardonnay Lauren Estate Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 98-100 Points

The 2016 Chardonnay Lauren Estate delivers incredibly intense grapefruit essence, lemon peel and green apple notes with touches of nutmeg, fresh ginger, lightly browned toast, marzipan and smoky meat. The palate is built like a brick house with a solid line of refreshing acid framing the complex citrus and spice layers, finishing long and savory.

2016 Chardonnay Sugar Shack Estate Vineyard Napa Valley
Score: 98-100 Points

The 2016 Chardonnay Sugar Shack Estate is opulent straight out of the gate, with stunning orange peel, candied ginger, nutmeg and ripe apricot with touches of cashews and croissant. The full-bodied palate explodes with expressive bread, nut, spice and stone fruit layers, marked by a lively line of acid that lifts the fruit and gives a long, gregarious finish.

2016 Chardonnay UV-SL Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 97-99 Points

The 2016 Chardonnay UV-SL has a very sexy nose of apple pie and apricot preserves over suggestions of coriander seed, fennel and chalk dust, plus a waft of orange blossoms. The palate simply sings with vibrant stone fruit and citrus peel flavors with a racy backbone cutting through the satiny texture, finishing with loads of lingering spice notes.

2016 Pinot Noir CIX Estate Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 97+ Points

Medium ruby-purple colored, the 2016 Pinot Noir CIX Vineyard bursts forth with baked cherries, red currant jelly and mulberries with touches of cinnamon stick, violets, baking spices and potpourri. Full-bodied, opulent and wonderfully spicy in the mouth, it has a solid frame of firm and grainy tannins with a seamless acid line and a very long, decadent finish. This wine was bottled in June 2017.

2016 Pinot Noir UV Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 95 Points

Bottled in June 2017, the 2016 Pinot Noir UV Vineyard has a medium ruby-purple color and nose of Sichuan pepper, sandalwood, dusty earth and underbrush with a core of black cherries and black raspberries, plus a pretty waft of rose hip tea. Full-bodied, concentrated and with incredible intensity, the generous fruit is well supported by fine-grained tannins, finishing long with mineral nuances.

2016 Pinot Noir UV-SL Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 94+ Points

Medium to deep ruby-purple colored, the 2016 Pinot Noir UV-SL Vineyard sports a very earthy nose laced with underbrush, damp soil and mossy bark over a black fruit core plus a pretty perfumed undercurrent of sandalwood, aniseed and dried flowers. The full-bodied palate is big, exuberant, rich and firmly structured, with chewy tannins supporting the muscular fruit, finishing long and earthy. Give it another year or two in bottle and drink it over the next decade.

2015 Chardonnay CIX Estate Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 100 Points

The 2015 Chardonnay CIX Estate has the most alluring, singular, beguiling nose so that it cannot fail to impress. Revealing notes of candied ginger, nutmeg, aniseed, apple pie and pear tart, it delivers a full-on bombastic, richly fruited and decadently creamy palate, beautifully contrasted by a seamless line of freshness, finishing multilayered and with epic persistence. Wow.

2015 Chardonnay Eastside Vineyard Russian River
Score: 98 Points

The 2015 Chardonnay Eastside Vineyard exudes butterscotch, allspice, baked pears and peach preserves with tantalizing honeycomb, salted caramel and popcorn hints. This rich, full-bodied powerhouse fills the palate with decadent, spicy stone fruit, marked by a refreshing line of acid and finishing with lingering wet pebble and savory hints.

2015 Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard Carneros
Score: 98 Points

The 2015 Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard is a toasty, nutty, baked peaches and pear tart sex bomb, with an incredible array of nuances on the nose conjuring notions of struck flint, earth, meat, baking bread and allspice. Medium to full-bodied, rich and oh-so-sensuous, it delivers incredible fruit, savory layers and a very long finish.

2015 Chardonnay Larry Hyde & Sons Vineyard Carneros
Score: 97 Points

The 2015 Chardonnay Larry Hyde and Sons Vineyard is simply amazing with a level of intensity that is through the roof, strutting notes of lemon oil, candied ginger, pink grapefruit and orange blossom with touches of yuzu and brioche, plus a waft of green tea. Full-bodied, finely constructed, oily and yet with tons of zing, this is simply a blockbuster and a delicious one at that.

2015 Chardonnay Lauren Estate Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 100 Points

A touch closed and youthfully shy to begin, the 2015 Chardonnay Lauren Estate soon powers up to reveal intense grapefruit, citrus peel, yuzu and honeyed pear notes over suggestions of crushed stones, struck match, baking bread and lemongrass. The palate is fine, fresh, elegant and incredibly layered, with the tightly wound layers offering glimpses at incredible depth, finishing long and minerally. Consider holding on to this one for another couple of years and drinking it over the next 12+.

2015 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 97+ Points

The 2015 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard offers up floral notes of jasmine and peach blossom over a core of apricot preserves, honeyed toast, beeswax and lemon butter, plus a waft of crushed stones. The palate is just beautiful, possessing incredible poise and restrained intensity juxtaposed by a rich, creamy texture and finishing with lingering mineral notes.

2015 Chardonnay Sugar Shack Estate Vineyard Napa Valley
Score: 97 Points

The 2015 Chardonnay Sugar Shack Estate is pure honeyed apricots and beeswax with suggestions of bread, salted almonds, croissant and a touch of aniseed. It is full-bodied, rich, intense, lifted, fresh and really well structured with a solid backbone, finishing long and sleek with some minerals.

2015 Chardonnay UV-SL Vineyard Sonoma Coast
Score: 100 Points

Giving up zingy lemon zest and grapefruit notes with layer upon layer of chalk dust, marzipan, honeyed brioche and ginger plus a touch of coriander seed, the 2015 Chardonnay UV-SL has a full-bodied powerhouse of a palate that delivers the goods and then some. Perfumed, seductive and drop-dead sexy, this is a real show-stopper of a Chardonnay with intensity and structure to age gracefully over the next 15+ years.