Optik Bien Nacido Chardonnay 2020
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
There are aromas of saltwater salinity, clean linens, daffodil flowers, and wet stone lift from the glass. Oak aging has provided rich crème brûlée, brown spice, and toasty notes. Rich textured entry with stone fruit, golden apple pie-a-la mode, banana custard, and kefir lime zest meld together for a delicious outcome. Elegant and balanced with blanched Marcona almonds, lavash bread, and a hint of salinity with a long bright finish.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Coastal winds blow from the Pacific Ocean to help illuminate the character of this Clone 17 Chardonnay, which aged 11 months in French oak. It’s round and full bodied, with flavors of coconut, pineapple, and lemon cake on a bed of salted slate. Butterscotch augments the mouthfeel as the lively acid structure enables notes of fresh linen and florals to peek through the toasty finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyard offers ripe, slightly honeyed peach fruit as well as some spicy, toasty nuances. These carry to a fleshy, layered, sexy Chardonnay that brings tons of fruit while staying nicely balanced and light on its feet. It's not going to make old bones, so drink this over the coming year or two.
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Wine Enthusiast
There's a steely minerality on the nose of this bottling, which offers aromas of lime peel, white flower and crisp apple. The palate is very even in presentation, showing honeysuckle and tangerine flavors.
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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 lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.