Saxon Brown Durell Hayfield Vineyard Chardonnay 2012
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Wine Spectator
Ultrarich and concentrated, with a tight beam of honey-laced apricot, fig and honeydew notes that offer power, persistence and depth, gliding along gracefully, turning elegant and nuanced. Drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is so compelling it’s difficult to put the glass down. It smells buttery and lush and offers flavors of ripe pear, vanilla and a bit of caramel. It is full bodied and plush in texture; that rich viscosity carries the ripe but not over-the-top flavors to a lingering finish.
Jeff launched Saxon Brown to focus on small single vineyard botttlings reflecting his preference for elegantly structured, well balanced and age worthy wines. Over time, Jeff expanded Saxon Brown’s vineyard-focus with small offerings from both established and emerging vineyard sites.
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 vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.