Solomon Hills Estate Chardonnay 2020
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Robert
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Jeb
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The aroma and palate profiles mirror each other with a delicate and svelte balance with tropical fruits of pineapple, underripe mango, and green papaya salad with a touch of tart green apple. The flavors continue with a precise minerality and very balanced oak. Lemon curd and pastry filling round out the finish. Long sur lie aging means this wine will hit its peak in 5 to 10 years.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
There's an impressive amount of white-rock minerality to the nose of this bottling, where chalk aromas surround the Asian pear, white lemon and lychee character of the nose. That chalky tension and flavor run through the palate, giving a steady edge to the lime blossom, lemon balm and underripe pineapple flavors.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Chardonnay Solomon Hills Estate comes from the colder of Bien Nacido's two estates. It's located eight miles west of Bien Nacido and is the westernmost vineyard in the Santa Maria appellation. Vines are planted in beach sand, and there are no mountains to block sea breezes, so it is an especially cold, windy, foggy site. Matured in 40% new French oak, it opens with some toasty nuances and flinty streaks, with a core of white peach, lemon-lime, saline and acacia. The palate is ultra tangy and energetic with bursts of concentrated, mouthwatering citrus and a very long, mineral-driven finish. Best After 2022
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Tasting Panel
Cookie dough, vanilla bean, basil, and tangerine peel are vibrant up front. With some weight that reveals a leesy quality, it finishes with a spark of minerality.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Estate Chardonnay Solomon Hills reveals a lighter gold hue as well as beautiful crushed citrus, honeyed orchard fruits, toasted spice, and salty, chalky mineral-like aromas and flavors. It's fresh and medium-bodied, with a balanced, elegant mouthfeel, good acidity, and outstanding length. This classic, impeccably made, cool-climate Chardonnay will benefit from a year in bottle and keep for a decade.
Rating: 92+ -
Wine & Spirits
Scents of pineapple and butterscotch give way to a golden apple intensity with a lemon-oil bite. Nutty lees frames the fruit, a mineral foundation that brings the wine into high focus. It has astonishing lift for all the moving parts.
Other Vintages
2019-
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Jeb
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Panel - Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
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Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
The Solomon Hills Vineyard was planted by the Miller Family in the late 1990's. Known for pinot noir and chardonnay, Solomon Hills found its tenor early on in its relatively young life among a broad range of talented winemakers who found its vibrant, youthful flavor profile exhilarating, and, at times, profound.
The soils of Solomon Hills Vineyards are composed primarily of ocean derived sandy loams. Because it is the western most vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley appellation, it is the coolest of all vineyards in this growing region. With the Pacific coastline only miles away, a constant maritime influence results in wines of precise acidity, bright fruit and an inherent elegance.
The Solomon Hills Vineyards takes its title from neighboring hills named for Solomon Pico, a celebrated bandit who in the 1850's traveled frequently along the stretch of El Camino Real that is known today as Santa Maria Valley.
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.