Sierra Madre Vineyard Chardonnay

Fact sheet

Type

White

Grape

Chardonnay

Country

United States

Region

Santa Maria Valley · Central Coast

Appellation

Santa Maria Valley

Body

medium

Acidity

high

Sweetness

dry

Rated vintages

• 201589 pts

  A slightly darker shade of yellow, this wine from a historic vineyard offers preserved lemon, toasted almond and a doughy character on the nose. It's very tactile on the palate, clinging to the tongue strongly, showing flavors of stone fruit, mandarin pith and underripe tangerin…

• 201494 pts

  This wine from a historic vineyard is hard to put down. It combines flint, pencil lead, smoked wood, chopped chives, sweet onion, crushed limestone and a touch of white pepper on the stonefruit-based nose. A strong toast and brioche character carries the sip, touching on white s…

• 201390 pts

  Toast, iodine, steel and kumquat-skin aromas show on this bottling from one of the region's older properties. The palate offers stone fruit ripeness but is driven by a sharp, citrusy acidity of Meyer lemon and Mexican lime.

• 201290 pts

  Vanilla-soaked French toast and caramelized apples promise a butter bomb in this Testarossa take on the historic Sierra Madre Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley. Once sipped, there is a surprising level of soda-like acidity, and a steadily emerging flavor profile that ranges fro…

• 201190 pts

  Rich and ripe in tropical fruit, apricot and peach flavors, this oaky Chardonnay is brightened by crisp acidity. The oakiness returns in the finish, which suggests buttered toast. Drink now.

• 200993 pts

  There's lots of sweet, smoky oak on this Chardonnay, with caramel and buttered toast flavors, but the underlying fruit is so massive, it easily handles that weight. Explodes in ripe pineapple and peach jam flavors, balanced with crisp acidity, like a squirt of lime. A really goo…