2009 Santa Maria Valley Dierberg Vineyard Chardonnay

 | 2009

90 Points
Wine & Spirits
08/01/2011
This wine’s spicy apple scents are a touch oxidative, while the flavors are stony, lasting on a savory fruit and oak balance. The finish is impressive, and suggests the wine will meld with a year in bottle.

92 Points
Jim Laube, Wine Spectator
07/31/2011
Lively citrus, green apple and pear fruit shows floral honeysuckle scents in this fresh, concentrated, medium-to full-bodied white, turning to white peach and nectarine flavors on the finish. Drink now through 2016.

88 Points
Steve Heimoff, Wine Enthusiast
05/01/2011
This pretty, polished young Chardonnay comes from the sprawling Santa Maria Valley of Santa Barbara County. It’s a good, dry wine, rich in acidity, with mineral-infused apple, pineapple and pear flavors, lavished with sweet, smoky oak. Drink now.

90 Points
Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine
05/01/2011
This nicely composed wine shows fine balance between brightness and richness with keen and lively young Chardonnay fruit as its centerpiece. Its themes of green apples and citrus are matched step for step with nicely fit oak, and, while tending to structural crispness, it conveys a fine sense of volume and depth. It is not a big one, but it is one that is long on character, and it is built in a way that encourages a few years of keeping.