2012 Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery Chardonnay Sonoma County

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 86.8 points

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  8/26/2023 - La Cave d'Argent Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Bottles of this wine were undoubtedly "forgotten soldiers" within the cellar of a prestigious Las Vegas restaurant that has a top-flight wine program. The restaurant's sommelier was made aware of the wine and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not only alive, but had actually blossomed into something special. He accordingly put it on the list to be sold by the glass. My sampling was from a freshly opened bottle. Medium golden in color, it immediately unfurls a complex bouquet of Mandarin oranges, yellow peaches, bananas, honey, jasmine, coriander, nutmeg and caramel. Medium-bodied, medium in acidity and without noticeable alcohol, it delivers a complex flavor profile, albeit not as intense as the nose. There are still no notes of oxidation on this 11-year-old wine. The oak has beautifully integrated, lending some vanilla notes that are pervasive throughout the solid mid-palate and lengthy finish. This is one of those surprises that every oenophile loves. I am hoping that one of them reads this note and has a bottle still lurking within his or her temperature-controlled cellar. Believe it or not, comparably cellared bottles should provide pleasure for another 2-3 years (possibly longer). Drink now-2026.

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  4/11/2015 - Tiderunner22 wrote: 85 Points

  Nice Sonoma Chardonnay with good QPR at $8. Abundant tropical fruit flavors on a medium oak finish. Slightly tart mid pallet that is a little distracting but still a nice wine for the price.

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  2/24/2015 - daver852 Does not like this wine: 84 Points

  Maybe one reason I don't like this wine is that I just expected it to be better. It isn't expensive wine - it sells for about $12 where I live, but is evidently much cheaper elsewhere - but I remember when the name "Sebastiani" was pretty much a guarantee of a decent bottle. This is not terrible wine, but it's very "meh." Nice golden color, but the first tip-off I got that this was not going to make my toes curl was the nose; fairly strong, some apple and pear, but also some distracting sweetish notes, and a whiff of oak that seemed out of place. Not nice, friendly oak, but more like newly sawn logs. On the palate there is more apple and more oak; I am a fan of oaky Chardonnay, but the oak should be a complement to the other flavors, and here it dominates to such a degree that I believe it may have been overoaked to hide the other defects in this wine. It just tastes oaky, flabby, and not at all like the entry level Chardonnay of a major producer should taste. Give me a bottle of Barefoot or Yellow Tail any day. Big pass on this.

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  2/19/2015 - Zuperdaave wrote: 85 Points

  Very good. Clear, straw color. Oak on the nose. Hint of Apple up front; citrus on the finish. Lacks the butter I sought/remembered.

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  12/9/2014 - benjaminpaul Likes this wine: 88 Points

  Light gold colour. Frosted honey, nutty nose. Palate of initially mellow citrus, like a non-acidic mandarin. Fades into a refined non-punchy aged oak which doesn't dominate. Lingers nicely into a marmalade like roasted-almond finish.
  
  Drinking now, but interested to see it up to 2015+, absolutely delicious and very easy to drink.

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