Woodward Canyon Chardonnay 2018
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
A fresh, clean chardonnay with sliced-apple and lemon aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied, tight and focused with a flavorful finish. Shows tension and brightness. Drink now.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of cinnamon, cream, lees, clove and spice draw you into the glass. The palate is creamy in feel, with well-balanced fruit flavors that show a deft touch.
Editors' Choice -
Jeb Dunnuck
Made in a richer, powerful style yet still fresh, balanced, and medium-bodied, the 2018 Chardonnay from Woodward Canyon offers up a vivid gold hue, notes of caramelized citrus, green apple, and white flower, good concentration, and a great finish. This beautiful Chardonnay will keep for 2-4 years, although there’s no need to delay gratification.
-
Wine Spectator
A handsome white, with polish and fine structure, featuring layers of apple and pear flavors, laced with spice and mineral elements. Drink now through 2021.
Other Vintages
2020-
James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine &
Spirits -
James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Spectator
The winery has consistently produced premium, age-worthy, award-winning Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots as well as Chardonnays. From the outset, Rick determined that quality would take precedence over quantity.
Consequently, Woodward Canyon has remained small. Woodward Canyon is located in Lowden in the Walla Walla Valley appellation. The tasting room is a restored 1870's farmhouse.
Woodward Canyon is a founding member of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance and VINEA, the Walla Walla Valley Winegrowers' Sustainable Trust.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.