Mer Soleil Santa Lucia Highlands Reserve Chardonnay 2019
-
Wilfred
Wong
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Mer Soleil Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay is nicely-packed and complete on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits appealing aromas and flavors of green and red apples, a hint of minerality, and judicious use of oak. Enjoy it with a rotisserie chicken with morels. (Tasted: January 29, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
Other Vintages
2020-
Wilfred
Wong
-
Wilfred
Wong - Decanter
-
Wilfred
Wong
-
Wilfred
Wong
-
Wilfred
Wong
-
Wilfred
Wong
-
Wilfred
Wong
-
James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong
Mer Soleil began in the late 1980s, with a journey to the central coast of California in search of ideal conditions to plant Chardonnay. Our first vineyards were in the Santa Lucia Highlands, a small but exceptional appellation about a 30-minute drive from Monterey. With morning fog, bright sunshine and howling gusts of afternoon wind, the region’s dramatic weather leads to an extended growing season, enabling us to make wines with distinctive aromas and flavors.
In addition to our Reserve Chardonnay from the Santa Lucia Highlands, we recently introduced a Reserve Pinot Noir, also from the Santa Lucia Highlands. Our SILVER unoaked Chardonnay comes from Monterey County – it is fermented and aged in a combination of stainless steel and concrete tanks. Mer Soleil is led by Owner and Winemaker Charlie Wagner, who is passionate about how these wines celebrate the remarkable landscape and character of the Santa Lucia Highlands and Monterey coast.
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.
Perhaps the most highly regarded appellation within Monterey County, Santa Lucia Highlands AVA benefits from a combination of warm morning sunshine and brisk afternoon breezes, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and fully. The result is concentrated, flavorful wines that retain their natural acidity. Wineries here do not shy away from innovation, and place a high priority on sustainable viticultural practices.
The climatic conditions here are perfectly suited to the production of ripe, rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These Burgundian varieties dominate an overwhelming percentage of plantings, though growers have also found success with Syrah, Riesling and Pinot Gris.