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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.2 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 64 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by VlgJeff on 3/17/2023 & rated 90 points: PnP, chilled, but continued to open through the first glass. A 5 minute decant or a 15 minute slo-ox may be best. The wine was a clear medium plus yellow. The nose showed lemon and minerality. The medium to plus bodied palate showed lots of lemon (both juice and crème) along with some green apple, pear and minerality. The acidity was quite mouth cleansing and just a bit more than needed to balance.
It has been a bit over a year since our previous bottle of this wine and it continues to show advancing age - even as this bottle was a bit better than that previous one. (553 views) | | | Tasted by glou.sf on 10/8/2022 & rated 95 points: Chablis like nose of lemon, citrus, dried flowers, lemon zest, and minerals. High acidity with more lemon notes, green apple, smoke, and chalk. Long finish. Outstanding CA Chardonnay. Perfectly balanced, intricate, and complex. (806 views) | | | Tasted by wgmccallum on 7/21/2022 & rated 93 points: Not a detailed not because I just quaffed the last drop, but this was rich, crisp, refreshing, deliciously acidic with mellow notes of ripe and preserved stone fruit. Perfect with shell-on pan fried garlic rosemary shrimp. (691 views) | | | Tasted by VlgJeff on 2/20/2022 & rated 89 points: Decanted this bottle for 30 minutes. The color was a clear light to medium straw yellow. Mostly minerality, with some citrus, on the nose. The medium to plus bodied palate showed lots of lemon and minerality, with no hint of oak, and very little of anything else. The acidity was quite vibrant and outran the fruit. The finish was medium and quite lemony.
Overall, this bottle was consistent with our three previous bottles, all of which were purchased at auction. (928 views) | | | Tasted by VlgJeff on 12/11/2021 & rated 90 points: Decanted this bottle for 20 minutes. The wine was a clear medium yellow -- a bit darker than our previous bottle on 5/30/21. The nose showed lemon and minerality. The medium to plus bodied palate showed lots of lemon (both juice and crème) and some minerality. The acidity was quite mouth cleansing and just a bit more than needed to balance.
This bottle was not as expressive as, and showed a bit more age than, our previous bottle. I fear our bottles of this wine, which were purchased at auction, are aging a bit prematurely. (1031 views) | | | Tasted by markydecker on 11/25/2021 & rated 97 points: Finally popped the last of my magnums for Thanksgiving to pair with Jason’s delicious marinated smoked salmon. A perfect pairing. At almost 9 years of age, still singing in large format. The pronounced aromas of the Pacific are front and center, crushed seashells and salt spray. Delicious briny stone fruit. This large bottle was consumed in a flash, putting a big smile on everyone’s face as we prepared for our wonderful Thanksgiving feast. (996 views) | | | Tasted by wgmccallum on 9/21/2021 & rated 92 points: Delicious crisp chardonnay, simple mineral nose with a touch of honey and Indian spice. Pronounced lemon fruit on the palate, youthful. Medium finish. 12.5% Light yellow. (1010 views) | | | Tasted by VlgJeff on 5/30/2021 & rated 90 points: Decanted for 30 minutes. The color was a clear light yellow. Citrus and minerality on the nose. The medium to plus bodied palate showed lots of lemon, a touch of lime, green apple, and minerality, with no hint of oak. The acidity is quite mouth cleansing and outruns the fruit. The finish is medium and quite lemony.
This bottle was not quite as satisfying as our previous bottle on 3/12. I gave this bottle more air upfront, but it did not improve its presentation. I fear the wine is showing signs of age and should be enjoyed sooner than later. NOTE: This bottle was purchased at auction -- as were my previous bottle (3/12/21) and a few additional bottles which may account for some "premature" aging. (1201 views) | | | Tasted by VlgJeff on 3/12/2021 & rated 90 points: Slo-oxed for 10 minutes, but this wine needs more air. The color was a light straw yellow. Green apple, citrus and a touch of minerality on the nose. The medium to plus bodied palate showed lots of lemon, green apple, and touches of grapefruit and minerality, with no hint of oak. The acidity is quite vibrant and outruns the fruit. The finish is medium and quite lemony.
This wine should hold for a good 8 to 10 years after vintage, yet this bottle, at 7 1/2 years seemed to be showing signs of age. I'll give the next bottle a longer airing and see what happens. (1111 views) | | | Tasted by ccotton8 on 10/1/2020: I remember my first bottle of this was delicious, but this bottle was not what I remember. If it wasn’t for the bottle saying it was Chardonnay I would have guessed this to lemon concentrate. All lemon all the time. (1175 views) | | | Tasted by wgmccallum on 8/30/2020 & rated 93 points: Nose of lime (mineral) and lime (fruit). Honeyed fruit on the palate with vibrant acids and bitter rind at the back. (1152 views) | | | Tasted by vindictive on 8/30/2020: Serious chardonnay, mineral with lemon and sea air like a Chablis. The acidity is high and this will not appeal to those who want a more typical oaky California chardonnay. The acidity might outlive the fruit, but I think this needs more bottle age. Impressive. (1061 views) | | | Tasted by Mike Dildine on 6/13/2020 & rated 95 points: From vines planted in 1980 above the coastal town of Aptos. 12.5% abv. Pale straw color, very expressive aromas. Lime, apricot, apple and pear combined with bright saline minerality. Excellent acidy, body, depth and length. Very intense and penetrating. This impressive wine should continue to age well for many more years. (1302 views) | | | Tasted by wgmccallum on 5/17/2020 & rated 91 points: Mineral nose, lemon notes with a touch of honey, crisp and vibrant on the palate with some round depth at the back. Lovely aperitif on a warm summer evening in Tucson. (1109 views) | | | Tasted by Sourdough on 4/11/2020 & rated 91 points: Very pale. Nose is currently subdued but flavors are strong. Green apples, white peach, great acidity dominate over a complex whirlwind of evolving accents! Very dry and Chablis-like. (1048 views) | | | Tasted by cartime on 11/7/2019 & rated 93 points: Lemon, mineral, white fruit. Terrific acidity. Drinking great but may improve over 2-3 years. (1323 views) | | | Tasted by Neecies on 9/9/2019: Lemon, white flowers, salinity and minerality, amazing nose and great attack on the palate. Superb balance. OFS. (1289 views) | | | Tasted by UofM on 8/12/2019 & rated 92 points: Yummy! What an interesting Chardonnay. Agree with many of the previous notes; meter lemon, green apple, even a tad chalky. Wish I had more. (1295 views) | | | Tasted by glou.sf on 3/21/2019 & rated 95 points: Minerals, meyer lemon, green apple, and mediterranean herbs on the nose. High acidity with lemon, rocks, and a hint of spearmint on the palate. Long finish. I’m sure this will get better in 3-5 years. (1609 views) | | | Tasted by wgmccallum on 11/22/2018 & rated 92 points: Creamy nose of oyster shell, lemon, white flowers, and salt water. Crystalline fruit on the palate with a hint of acidic buttterscotch, penetrating acid finish. Wonderful late night Thanksgiving wine, clearing the senses. 50 + 17 + 17 + 8 = 92. (1892 views) | | | Tasted by amoryb on 10/27/2018: still very nice. more integrated than my previous bottles. the acid a bit less prominent and some very nice lemon and soft stone fruit as support. has really evolved well. (1561 views) | | | Tasted by Mike Dildine on 10/27/2018 & rated 95 points: Really fine, energetic and focused with a delicious lemon zest thing going on. Singing now, but showing no sign of age. (1579 views) | | | Tasted by 560 B&W on 10/5/2018 & rated 93 points: This has definitely improved with time. Racy and delicious. Probably still hasn't peaked. 12.5% (1655 views) | | | Tasted by Rieslingfan on 9/16/2018: Not really sure what to make of this. When I first opened it there was an overwhelming element of spicy oak. An hour or so later that faded, and left no notable features at all. It was just plain boring. I corked it up, and put it in the fridge for the night. Tonight it was flat and boring. Bizarre. (1799 views) | | | Tasted by Seafoam Manor on 5/18/2018 & rated 96 points: This was a "wow" wine for me. Perfectly balanced and made with an elegance that you don't normally see in CA. The nose and the palate are in lock step with each other. You are initially hit with a slight bit of reduction that adds a savory quality, but then it opens up with a white floral quality, an underripe pineapple note is probably the most pronounced fruit, which is buffered by lemon and tart apple. There are light sweet creamy malo notes, which are expertly restrained; oyster shell, wet stone, and a saline quality that is drawn out by the high acidity, light smoke and a slight touch of sweet spices. Most remarkably, this manages to have a huge density and intensity of flavor while maintaining an absolutely weightless feel in the mouth. Everything in its right place.
Blind, this would be very hard to call as a CA Chardonnay, as it probably drinks closer to a GC Chablis or a 1er Cru Puligny-Montrachet. Pretty unique style, but right up there with the best domestic Chardonnays I've ever had. (2043 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Sonoma, Anderson Valley and Beyond: New Releases (Jan 2015) (1/1/2015)
(Arnot-roberts Chardonnay Trout Gulch Santa Cruz Mountains) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
| Arnot-Roberts Producer Website
Jamie Kutch left a highly paid career as a stock trader in 2005 to move to California and pursue his dream of making wine. People thought he was crazy, until the first Pinot Noir he released scored 93 points in Wine Spectator. That shouldn't come as a surprise as Jamie has cut his teeth among some of the best producers in the Pinot Noir world. From his time spent working at the revered Kosta Browne in Sonoma to receiving sage advice from none other than Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanee Conti, Jamie has taken everything he has learned to produce some of the most compelling and terroir driven wines in California.
The Kutch wines are made as naturally as possible. After the grapes are harvested by hand, they are sorted meticulously and moved only by gravity, before being fermented in small open-top containers with hand and foot punch downs using indigenous yeasts. When fermented, the wine is gravity flowed into French Oak barrels, where they age sur lie (on the lees). The vineyard pursues a minimalist philosophy, trying to produce the purest expression of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from a particular place and time.
Since foundation 2001, Arnot-Roberts has been one of the most progressive and revolutionary producers on the California landscape. Initially their focus was just on making great Californian wines, but when the cool 2005 vintage gave them wines in a more austere, high acid style than the region was used to, Nathan and Duncan reacted completely differently to practically everyone else in California – they loved them and decided to pursue lower ripeness levels and higher acidity in all of their wines henceforth.
The intent is to produce wines that express the character of the sites in which the grapes are grown. No vineyards are owned. Fruit was sourced by arrangements with farmers from prime sites in Napa, the Sonoma Coast, the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Santa Rita Hills, Moon Mountain and the Sierra Foothills. The focus is on single vineyards, but some regional / appellation wines are also made if the grapes show strong association with their origins. The common thread is that most of the fruit is sourced from cooler vineyard sites.
Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay Trout Gulch VineyardThe Trout Gulch Vineyard is found in a forested coastal canyon about 4 miles from the ocean in Santa Cruz County. This beautiful and pioneering site was planted by Bernard Turgeon in 1980 to the old Wente clone of Chardonnay, which is considered by many to be the heritage selection of Chardonnay in California. The soils in this cool site are fine sandy loam and the vines are carefully tended by Richard Alfaro. Harvest at Trout Gulch often has a slow-growing season resulting in wines that are high in natural acidity, strong minerality, and have notable salinity on the palate.Chardonnay The Chardonnay GrapeUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Santa Cruz Mountains Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association | Wikipedia
Once referred to by wine writers as the Chaine d'Or -- or "golden chain" -- the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA sits above Silicon Valley, running along the craggy range next to the Pacific on some of the prettiest parts of Northern California. The area supports more than 75 wineries, despite being limited by geography and high land prices.
In 1981 the Santa Cruz Mountains Viticultural Appellation became federally recognized, one of the first American viticultural areas to be defined by geophysical and climatic factors. The appellation encompasses the Santa Cruz Mountain range, from Half Moon Bay in the north, to Mount Madonna in the south. The east and west boundaries are defined by elevation, extending down to 800 feet in the east and 400 feet in the west. |
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