Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesA beautiful chardonnay with cooked apple, dried mango and mineral character with a pumice undertone. It’s full-bodied with solid tension and a curated finish. Extremely polished and focused. Tensioned. No malo. Made from organic grapes. Drink now.
Fresh and expressive, featuring Honeycrisp apple, yuzu and lemon blossom flavors and a hint of marzipan and nutmeg, this shows wonderful restraint and focus. The long, juicy finish reveals a hint of fresh-grated ginger.
The 2020 Chardonnay Carbone is sourced from old vines in the Berry Lane vineyard in Coombsville, right next to the Carbone winery. The blocked malo style yields a Chardonnay built on brightness and energy, with lovely citrus, floral and savory accents. This is such a gorgeous wine. Best After 2021
Carbone's 2020 Chardonnay is all Clone 4, planted in the 1980s. Barrel fermented and aged using a small proportion of new French oak (10-15%), the wine offers up subtle notes of roasted cashews, plus fruit that ranges from pineapple and melon to lemon and lime. It's medium-bodied, modestly silky and textured yet clean and refreshing, as malolactic fermentation is blocked. Best After 2022
Favia Erickson Winegrowers is a collaboration between Annie Favia and Andy Erickson. Their philosophy is simple: create soulful wines that express the true nature of the vineyards from which they come. Annie and Andy focus on finding unique vineyard sites with soils, climate and aspects ideal for growing exquisite wine grapes, and develop strong relationships with their winegrowers to perfect viticultural practices. In the winery, they carefully coax the grapes into wine. Gentle handling, minimal intervention, and strict monitoring of the wine allow our grapes to speak for themselves.
Ultimately, Favia Erickson Winegrowers unites science, art and nature to produce unparalleled wines, each with its own distinct character.
Situated in the southeastern corner of Napa Valley in the Vaca range, the vineyards of the Coombsville AVA enjoy a long growing season mitigated by cool, San Pablo Bay fog.
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.