Senses Charles Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay 2021
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James
Suckling - Vinous
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The Heintz family has owned the ranch for over 100 years. Ideal Goldridge soil, healthy, mature vines, warm days balanced with cool nights and a grower who has been working the land since 1982 all contribute to Robert Parker’s assessment of the
vineyard as “...one of the great grand cru Chardonnay sites in California.”
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Dried apple and dried peaches with some ginger and spices. Full-bodied, with phenolic tension and layered texture. Chewy and very intense. Honeysuckle and honey. Flavorful finish. Unique.
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Vinous
The 2021 Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard is airy and nicely lifted. Sweet floral notes, orchard fruit, lemon confit, mint and jasmine give this focused Chardonnay terrific brightness. The style is about airiness and understatement.
Other Vintages
2020-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.