Shea Willamette Valley Chardonnay 2017
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Wine
Enthusiast - Vinous
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Wine
Spectator
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Great for food pairing or delightful by itself, this Chardonnay has all the bright, crisp acidity one should expect from the varietal when grown in a cool climate. Melon, lemongrass and pear aromatics lead beautifully into a palate of green apple and stone fruits.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This top-notch Chardonnay rests easy on the palate, rippled with citrus, apple, melon and guava fruit. Barrel fermented in French oak, 14% new, it’s fragrant in a toasted hazelnut tone and perfectly balanced around the fruit, barrel and acid components.
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Vinous
Limpid straw-yellow. Penetrating aromas of fresh pear, white peach and tarragon, along with building suggestions of chalky minerals and jasmine. Juicy and energetic on the palate, offering mineral-laced orchard and citrus fruit flavors that deepen slowly on the back half. The floral quality comes back strong on the incisive finish, which lingers with very good tenacity and tight focus. 14% new French oak.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and steely, with vibrant lemon and lime flavors, accented by a touch of minerality. Drink now.
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Shea Vineyard, located in the Yamhill Foothills of Oregon's Willamette Valley, was first planted to wine grapes by Dick Shea in 1989 and 1990. Today the vineyard property consists of 200 hillside acres of which 140 are planted to wine grapes, largely Pinot Noir and a few acres of Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. The south facing vineyard sits in a viticultural region called the Willakenzie District. The soil of the vineyard is shallow and very well draining with sandstone subsoil. The vineyard has never been irrigated.
Currently the winery supplies several top Pinot Noir producers in Oregon (Archery Summit, Beaux Freres, Ken Wright, Panther Creek, and St. Innocent) and one in California (Sine Qua Non). The Wine Enthusiast in its annual review of Oregon wines in December 2000, wrote, "It is no coincidence that our two top rated wines... were made from fruit from Richard Shea's perennially superb Willamette Valley vineyard."
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.
One of Pinot Noir's most successful New World outposts, the Willamette Valley is the largest and most important AVA in Oregon. With a continental climate moderated by the influence of the Pacific Ocean, it is perfect for cool-climate viticulture and the production of elegant wines.
Mountain ranges bordering three sides of the valley, particularly the Chehalem Mountains, provide the option for higher-elevation vineyard sites.
The valley's three prominent soil types (volcanic, sedimentary and silty, loess) make it unique and create significant differences in wine styles among its vineyards and sub-AVAs. The iron-rich, basalt-based, Jory volcanic soils found commonly in the Dundee Hills are rich in clay and hold water well; the chalky, sedimentary soils of Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton and McMinnville encourage complex root systems as vines struggle to search for water and minerals. In the most southern stretch of the Willamette, the Eola-Amity Hills sub-AVA soils are mixed, shallow and well-drained. The Hills' close proximity to the Van Duzer Corridor (which became its own appellation as of 2019) also creates grapes with great concentration and firm acidity, leading to wines that perfectly express both power and grace.
Though Pinot noir enjoys the limelight here, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay also thrive in the Willamette. Increasing curiosity has risen recently in the potential of others like Grüner Veltliner, Chenin Blanc and Gamay.