Evening Land (Seven Springs) Chardonnay Summum 2022 750ml

The Summum Chardonnay from the Evening Land Seven Springs Estate is a thing of beauty. The aromatics of crushed slate, oyster shells and briny lemon peel offer an angularity that belies the wine’s rich textured mouthfeel. The savoury elements continue to leap out at you, with briny notes of seafoam, salted lemon and brisk, piquant early-season nectarine flesh. The richness of the texture is constantly buoyed by the wealth of minerality in this delightful Chardonnay, showing why the Eola-Amity Hills offer some of the best terroir for the variety in the US.

• Country: United States
• Region: Oregon
• Appellation: Willamette Valley
• Sub Appellation: Eola – Amity Hills
• Size: 750ml
• Color: White
• Alcohol by Vol: 13.0%

Varietal

Chardonnay

Of all the white wine grape varietals, surely the one that has spread the furthest and is most widely appreciated is Chardonnay. This green-skinned grape is now grown all over the Old and New Worlds, from New Zealand to the Americas, from England to Chile, and is one of the first varietals people think of when considering white wine grapes. Perhaps this is because of its huge popularity, which reached a peak in the 1990s, thanks to new technologies combining with traditional methods to bring the very best features out of the Chardonnay grape and allow its unique qualities to shine through. Most fine Chardonnay wines use a process known as malolactic fermentation, wherein the malic acids in the grape juice are converted to lactic acids, allowing a creamier, buttery nature to come forward in the wine. No grape varietal is better suited to this process than Chardonnay, which manages to balance these silky, creamy notes with fresh white fruit flavors beautifully.