2017 The White Queen Chardonnay

2017 The White Queen Chardonnay

2017 The White Queen Chardonnay, Hints of meyer lemon, white flower blossom, baking spice and vanilla.

This Chardonnay was crafted by former-Sommelier Matt Ahern with fruit from some of Sonoma County California’s best vineyards. Matt’s goal was to create a balanced, wine with some nerve, to pair with food and this wine fills that void very well. Two thirds of the wine spent 7 months in 50% new French oak and one third of the wine was stainless steel and the resulting wine is pure, precise, and focused with furtive opulence and complexity that will surprise you. This wine graces the wine lists at many of the country’s best restaurants, and that makes it a tremendous value to purchase for your at-home needs and a killer wine for entertaining guests. 2,872 cases produced.

The twenty-year old breezy vineyard in Carneros is planted with the Robert Young clone and is just a few miles from the town square of Sonoma. California black clay soils and the cooler climate tend to delay ripening until late in the harvest season.

As one of the most popular grapes for growing and consuming, Chardonnay can be made in a wide range of styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. These styles can vary from a sparkling Blanc de Blanc, or fresh fermented in stainless steel, to rich and creamy white wine aged in oak barrels. While Chardonnay can flourish in many environments, in its homeland of Burgundy it can produce some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. Whereas from California it can produce both oaky, buttery styles as well as leaner, European-inspired wines. A Somm secret: the Burguny subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style with high levels of acidity. Most people who do not like oaky/buttery Chardonnay may likely enjoy Chablis.