2023 Ernest Vineyards Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 750 ml

The Sonoma Coast is a vast winegrowing area. 

The TRUE Sonoma Coast is different. Hugging the shoreline, it’s where the Pacific sea spray cools the vines, where the land is rugged and hard to work—and where the low-yielding vines produce wines of OUTSTANDING energy and verve. 

Ernest Vineyards epitomizes this type of coastal winemaking. As Antonio Galloni of Vinous wrote, their style “prizes energy and tension,” which is why they’ve become a darling of some of the top restaurants in the country—including Michelin two-starred Birdsong in San Francisco.

Ernest owns or leases 34 acres in Freestone-Occidental, which is one of the extreme cool-climate areas of the West Sonoma Coast. Their 2023 Chardonnay is a stunner, with aromas of Meyer lemon peel, green pear, and white peach mingling with wet stone, honeysuckle, and a touch of toasted hazelnut. Energetic and flawless with food, this is great with seafood delicacies like uni toast, grilled abalone, or Dungeness crab—but it will elevate just about anything you pair it with. 

It’s no picnic to farm the True Sonoma Coast. The area is cooler and wetter than inland Sonoma sites, so vineyard management requires a sharper eye toward spotting disease early and more proactive canopy management. Cooler weather during flowering means that yields are tiny—so that extra labor works an even smaller crop. 

That’s why the area is home to a slew of triple-digit-priced Chardonnays, and Ernest embodies the meticulous, small-lot philosophy that defines the region's best. Todd Gottula and Erin Brooks founded this boutique operation in 2012, focusing on vineyard-designated Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from sites where marine fog and cooling winds create the perfect conditions for outstanding grapes.