Schug Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2015

Costco is having their annual pre-Thanksgiving wine sale featuring 14 wines selling at reduced prices. Several of the wines are well known, widely available wines. Here at the SC Wine Joe house, we have been working our way through bottles of some of the other wines. The red wines we tried thus far have not been interesting and we actually poured one (Nanna's Shortcake Zin) down the drain. The one wine that has been a highlight for me is the Schug Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2015. It has been a few years since I last tasted this Chardonnay and my preferences in Chaardonnay have evolved somewhat since then.

The Sonoma Coast AVA is a large portion of the Sonoma County wine grape growing area. It includes the entire Sonoma County Pacific coast and extends east as much as 30 miles. This area includes the Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley, Los Carneros and more. The area generally has a cooler climate and more rainfall than the remainder of Sonoma County. The Schug website states that this Chardonnay is crafted from grapes grown in western Carneros, southern Sonoma Valley and Petaluma Gap.

You can pay as much as $21 online for this wine. Costco's regular price is $17.99 but my local warehouse is selling it for $13.89 until November 26, 2017.

Schug makes their Sonoma Coast Chardonnay with minimal new oak. This allows the bright fruit to be featured with only hints of oak. I found the wine to have apple, peach and pear flavors. The alcohol content is 13.9%. This well made wine is the style of Chardonnay that I really enjoy and I will pair it with crabcakes tonight.

SC Wine Joe does not assign numerical ratings to white wines. Wine Enthusiast rates this wine as 90 points.

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