Top New Chardonnay Wines from Sonoma-Cutrer, in the Heart of California’s Russian River Valley, are Now Available at Retail Locations
Sonoma-Cutrer has just released two top new Chardonnay wines. California pioneer Sonoma-Cutrer, located in the heart of the Russian River Valley, announces two new vintages of its award-winning wines – the 2020 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay and 2019 Les Pierres Chardonnay.
2020 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay
The Sonoma Coast appellation features diverse soil types and growing conditions perfect for producing exceptional Chardonnay. Their Sonoma Coast cuvée is made from select lots representing the finest vineyards this appellation has to offer. For this vintage, the blend contains fruit from four of their estate vineyards and a small group of carefully selected growers. These sites are dramatically affected by the cool afternoon Pacific breezes, fog, soil and diurnal temperature variations.
The 2020 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is a classic, elegantly structured Chardonnay with a pale, medium straw color. Stone fruit aromas mix with vanilla-laced oak spice, toasted nuts, light caramel, and underlying floral notes. The creamy richness of this medium-bodied wine boasts flavors of ripe pear and peach. Sonoma-Cutrer’s signature vibrant acidity is well balanced with a nice length that rounds out to a pleasant, lingering finish of barrel spice.
This wine pairs well with chicken dishes, shrimp, salads, fruit plate and risottos. Great for alfresco dining!
I am always glad when I get a shipment of Sonoma Cutrer wines. This is one of my favorite wineries. The Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is always a good wine choice for summer sipping. The 2020 Sonoma Coast was a nice balance of stone fruit (I tasted the ripe pear) with undernotes of spice and floral. Chill it, sit outside under the arbor with friends and enjoy a glass with chicken salad like I did.
2019 Les Pierres Chardonnay
The appellation of the Les Pierres Vineyard sits atop the gravelly clay loam of an ancient riverbed, thick with cobbled stones that infuse the grapes – and the wine – with a varied mineral essence. The rocks absorb sunlight and slowly release heat to the vines. When combined with the cool fog that tempers the warm Sonoma Valley temperature, the result is a long growing season that allows the fruit to ripen and reach full maturation.
The almost double the average rainfall for the year combined with additional late spring rains, led the harvest season to kick off with a late and slow start. Throughout the summer, there were no weather extremes – just superb California weather that set the stage for a great year.
On September 3rd, a week behind normal, harvest began with their southernmost estate vineyard, Les Pierres. The entire harvest remained steady throughout as did the weather. The result was one of our longest crush periods at well over six weeks. The long, even hang time for the fruit has yielded a true classic Chardonnay vintage.
The 2019 Les Pierres Chardonnay exemplifies Sonoma-Cutrer’s Grand Cru approach to winemaking. It features a pale straw color and rich aromatic notes of lime zest, citrus blossom and bright lemon curd. A balanced mouthfeel combines with Sonoma-Cutrer’s signature citrus-laced acidity that showcases the wine’s oak integration and flavors of melon, lime, mineral, roasted nuts, and spice. The elegant, creamy wine dissolves into a long, juicy, lingering spice finish.
The 2019 Les Pierres Chardonnay was a bit of a surprise. This is my first time with this wine and right away I tasted a difference in this bottle of Sonoma-Cutrer. I had to swirl and sip several time before I realized this wine had some interesting mineral notes mixed in with citrus and spice. It was a well balanced wine with a good mouthfeel. It also surprised me with its creaminess at the end. This vineyard had an interesting growing season (see above) that ended in a great bottle of wine! You shouldn’t miss buying a bottle or two, or maybe even a case of this one!
The 2019 Les Pierres pairs well with fish, vegetables, salads and lamb!
About the Winemaker
These new releases showcase the winery’s mastery of the Chardonnay grape. Led by Sonoma-Cutrer’s Chardonnay Winemaker Cara Morrison, these sustainable certified varietal wines speak to the winery’s approach of honoring Burgundian traditions while implementing California innovation to create standout bottles.
“We are excited to introduce new vintages of Les Pierres and Sonoma Coast Chardonnay that showcase Sonoma County’s remarkable terroir,” said Morrison. “While each is unique, both exemplify Sonoma-Cutrer’s Chardonnay style of crisp acidity balanced by ripe fruit and oak complexity.”
Sonoma-Cutrer’s Sonoma Coast Chardonnay (13.8%) is available for an SRP of $23 and Les Pierres Chardonnay (14.2%) is available for an SRP of $46. The wines will be available at retail locations as well as direct from the winery at www.sonomacutrer.com.
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**Full Disclosure: I received product in exchange for my review, but not to worry, all opinions are 100% mine.**
About Sonoma-Cutrer:
Sonoma-Cutrer has been crafting wines since 1981 in the esteemed Russian River Valley growing region of Sonoma County, California. Their flagship wine, Russian River Ranches, was built in the on-premise and for over 30 years has dominated the Most Popular Chardonnay Wine & Spirits Annual Restaurant Poll. Their winemaking process, led by a female-driven team, is designed specifically to preserve the highest quality grapes, and the wines are aged in barrels made of specific French oak trees that are selected to fit the winemakers’ needs. Sonoma County is the first wine region in the world to be 99% sustainable. As a leader in this initiative, Sonoma-Cutrer prioritizes protecting the environment in all viticultural and winemaking processes. All Sonoma-Cutrer wines can be purchased at the Sonoma-Cutrer winery, as well as, through the wine club, Club Cutrer. For more information about their wines, how to purchase, or to join Club Cutrer, please visit www.sonomacutrer.com
