Private Reserve Chardonnay Reviews

The 2021 Private Reserve Chardonnay gives up decadent scents of allspice, pineapple upside-down cake, and ripe apricots plus hints of marzipan and honeysuckle. The full-bodied palate delivers a creamy texture and mouth-coating tropical and stone fruit flavors, finishing long and spicy.

Ripe, tropical fruit notes of kiwi, pear, lemon and wet slate. This is broad and mouth-filling with zippy, acidity and a generous dollop of sweet, toasty oak and crushed almonds. It finishes long with burnt caramel and a vein of minerality. 

Rich in salty caramel crème brulee, this is a fleshy and lushly made white wine, full bodied and concentrated in style. The oak provides a foundation of toasty baking spice and vanilla.  -Virginie Boone

The 2015 Chardonnay Private Reserve gives up notions of honey-drizzled peaches and spiced apple slices with touches of baking bread, cedar and marzipan. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with spicy stone fruit flavors, with a pleasantly oily texture and plenty of freshness, finishing on a honeyed note.

Buena Vista's top chardonnay comes from the Thornton Vineyard, an exposed site on the ridge between the town of Sonoma and Petaluma. It's clean with fresh pear and richer pear-nectar notes, the texture supple and round. The structure comes through in light touches of oak tannins, stony notes and the peppery feel of olive oil. Pour it with roasted arctic char. 

SILVER

This is an earthy and somewhat savory wine, buoyed by level acidity. It offers stewed lemon and fennel around a feral nose.
 

This cuvée offers layers of melon, white peach and honeyed fruit intermixed with caramelized citrus, fresh acidity, a delicate touch of oak, and a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel. It is a lovely, well-balanced, impressive Chardonnay to drink over the next 5-6 years.

A limited cuvee of 300 cases, the 2011 Chardonnay Private Reserve possesses more length, richness, subtlety and complexity. Delicate honeyed, buttered popcorn, citrus oil and orange blossom notes are present in this medium-bodied, refreshing yet steely Chardonnay. With good minerality, ripeness and balance, it can be enjoyed over the next 2-3 years.