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A bright, ocean-kissed Chardonnay with lemon zest, crisp apple pie, white peach and floral notes. Gentle oak gives a generous, layered mid-palate, lightly touched by butter and toast, balanced by fresh acidity that lingers on an elegant finish.
Available in store
Close100% Chardonnay
Food pairings: Grilled shrimp with mango salsa, crab, scallops, fettuccine Alfredo and Caesar salad.
Winemaking: The wine is fermented in both stainless steel and barrels for freshness and complexity. About 45% is fermented in stainless-steel tanks without malolactic fermentation, keeping it crisp, while the other 55% is fermented in barrel and goes through malolactic for a rounder texture. All of the wine is then aged on its lees in barrel for eight months, with 15% new French oak. The blend draws on four Chardonnay clones, Clone 4, Wente, Clone 76 and Clone 96, for layers of flavor. Winemaker Jill Russell describes fresh fruit and floral aromas, with the oak building a nice mid-palate balanced by bright, lingering acidity.
Vineyards and terroir: Katherine's Vineyard was named in 1986 after proprietor Katie Jackson. It lies on Cambria's estate on the Santa Maria Bench in the Santa Maria Valley, the northernmost corner of Santa Barbara County, where a rare east–west mountain range opens the valley to the Pacific about 15 miles away. Ocean fog rolls in each morning, lifts through the day and returns in the afternoon, like the tide; the winery calls this "refrigerated sunshine", and it gives a long, cool growing season. The vines grow in ancient marine soils of fossilized seashells, shale, limestone and sand, and the estate has been certified sustainable since 2010. The 2024 is bottled with a Santa Barbara County appellation, from 100% Santa Barbara County grapes.
Family and history: Cambria is one of the Santa Maria Valley's first wineries. Its historic Tepusquet Vineyard, first planted in 1971, helped show what the region could do with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and in 1986 Barbara Banke and Jess Jackson bought it and founded Cambria. Today the estate is family owned and led by sisters and proprietors Katie and Julia Jackson. Winemaker Jill Russell joined in 2017, and her very first vintage of Katherine's Vineyard Chardonnay was named one of the top 100 wines of the year; in 2024 she was named one of ten outstanding Chardonnay winemakers.
In the pictures: Vines below the hills of the Santa Maria Valley (photo: Tim Mossholder, 2016, CC0). The Foxen Canyon Wine Trail sign among the vineyards between Santa Maria and Los Olivos, pointing the way to Cambria (photo: Sarah Stierch, 2023, CC BY 4.0).
