Talley Arroyo Grande Valley Estate Chardonnay 2016
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Jeb
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Light gold in appearance, the 2016 Estate Chardonnay offers aromas of freshly churned butter with a hint of rose petal. On the palate, notes of honey-roasted peanuts lead to a rich and toasty finish. Enjoy this Chardonnay with pad thai or chicken piccata in a caper and butter sauce.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: One has to hand it to Winegrower Brian Talley and his team. Talley Vineyards produces some of California's most treasured wines. The 2016 Estate Chardonnay is a wine lovers' wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine is bright, authentic, and delicious. Its aromas and flavors of active stone fruits and savory spices stay long and lovingly on the palate. Pair it with a salad of organic chicken, ripe peaches, and garden greens. (Tasted: August 19, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
This appellation blend is a very downthe- middle style of classic California Chardonnay, with ample amounts of oak, butter, baked lemon and ripe apple on the nose. The palate pairs golden apples with buttercream and a light brush of vanilla, with acid that powers deep into the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The larger production 2016 Chardonnay Estate is certainly worth your time and money and is a great intro to the wines from this terrific estate. Salted apple, brioche, white flowers, toasted bread, and plenty of classic Central Coast salty minerality notes give way to a medium-bodied, balanced, undeniably delicious Chardonnay that’s perfect for drinking over the coming 4-5 years.
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Talley Vineyards is a family owned and operated winery that specializes in estate grown Chardonnay and Pinot Noir ideally suited for the climate and soils of the Arroyo Grande and Edna Valleys. The Talley’s farming history in the area dates to 1948 when Oliver Talley began growing vegetables in the Arroyo Grande Valley. Guided by this legacy and a commitment to long term sustainability, Talley Vineyards focuses on attention to detail in all aspects of farming and winemaking operations. The goal is to produce distinctive wines of consistently high quality that best express the unique character of each of the Talley family’s six vineyard sites in the two valleys.
Talley Vineyards is located in the Arroyo Grande Valley, seven miles east of the Pacific Ocean in San Luis Obispo County on California's South Central Coast. We are approximately halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles and less than 10 minutes from Highway 101 in Arroyo Grande.
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.
One of the coolest growing areas in California, the Arroyo Grande Valley runs from the southwest to the northeast, just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Central Coast AVA. Situated so that cold Pacific Ocean air and fog is allowed to filter into the valley, Arroyo Grande also has an incredibly long growing season. Bud break occurs in February in most years with flowering in May and harvest in late September; the area is classified as cool Mediterranean.
These weather factors combined with the soil types—continental and marine rocks, greywacke, limestone, shale and volcanic—create wines with great concentration and fresh acidity. The cooler end of the valley is perfect for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and is a good producer of sparkling wines. The warmer, more inland part of the valley is home to some of California’s oldest Zinfandel vines.