MORE CHARDONNAYS

FLOWERS

Located in the middle of no-where is where you'll find the Flowers vineyards and winery. Cazadero.

Walt & Joan Flowers started in the nursery/landscaping business in Pennsylvania.  They own a piece of property in the Sonoma Coast appellation, right close to the edge of the Left Coast.  They're something like a mile inland and high up on a hill (their home vineyard is called "Camp Meeting Ridge") in very steep and rocky terrain.  The Flowers planted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in this remote area, a region shunned by U.C. Davis many years ago.  It was thought to be too cold to ripen fruit.  

Yet the Flowers are above the fog line and have exceptionally long growing seasons.  This accounts, in some measure, for the exceptional character of their wine.

We've noticed a change in the styling of their wines over the past few vintages.  Early offerings were matured in a higher percentage of new oak than the current offering.  This may be a negative for some tasters, especially those looking for lots of vanillin and toasty oak notes.

On the other hand, the new vintage is refined, elegant and you can taste some of the minerally notes expressed by this noteworthy and difficult "terroir."  

Whole cluster pressing, fermentation in oak, with no cold-settling, full malolactic, no fining, no filtration...only gravity flow racking/moving of the wine...pretty much the full, pedal-to-the-metal treatment except the oak is not as heavy-handed as is often fashionable.  Crisp acidity, too.  The major problem: supply.  
Naturally.  

We currently have their 2008 Sonoma Coast bottling.  This comes from several vineyard sites, including their "Camp Meeting Ridge" vineyard.  The wine shows the lemon blossom notes and apple-like tones of cool-climate (or cooler climate) California Chardonnays.  Oak is present, with a shade more of a woodsy note than I found in the 2007.  I like it, though.

There's also a sort of "reserve" wine available.  It's called their "Andreen-Gale Cuvée" and it's a selection of barrels.  The wine takes its name from the mothers of Joan and Walt Flowers.  We find a touch more minerality in this wine than in their normal, Sonoma Coast bottling.  It shows a melon-like fruit tone, too.  

The Flowers have sold a percentage of their wine company to a famous Napa vintner, Augustin Huneeus (owner of Quintessa in Napa and the Veramonte label from South America).  

Currently in stock: 2008 "Sonoma Coast"  Chardonnay (List $48) SALE $43.99 (limited)
2005 "Andreen-Gale Cuvée" Chardonnay (List $56) SALE $49.99

 

WALTER HANSEL
2006 Russian River Valley "Cahill Lane"  Chardonnay $35.99

This family has a Ford automobile dealership located just west of Highway 101 as you're on your way to Sonoma's wine country near Santa Rosa.

But the patriarch of the Hansel clan also had the foresight to invest in vineyard property back in the 1970s.  Located near the Santa Rosa Golf Course, the vineyards cover some 80 acres of land.  Pinot Noir and Chardonnay comprise the bulk of the property.

After years of growing grapes, Walter's son Stephen decided to open a winery and vinify his own fruit.  Early Chardonnays were really nice, but more hazy than a first stage smog alert in Los Angeles.  Ellen looked at one bottle and shook her head, telling the sales rep "This will result in too many bottles being returned, because most customers don't want to deal with so much sediment."  

While we appreciated their efforts at capturing the maximum Chardonnay character in the bottle, doing a minimum of clarification for the wine is probably a good idea from a commercial standpoint.  After all, their Ford automobiles do come with mufflers and smog control devices!


A 2006 bottling of Hansel's "Cahill Lane" is  very fine.   It's smoky  and mildly leesy, so not every Chardonnay drinker will find this to be to their taste.  If you're a fan of French white Burgundies, though, this is well worth trying.

ANCIEN

We cannot recall tasting a wine of this label which we did not find to be of interest.  It's the work of winemaker Ken Bernards, a gentleman who produces wines of balance and finesse (in our view).

Ken worked at Domaine Chandon and, later, for the Truchard winery in Carneros.  We also admire some of his work as a winery consultant for a South American winery.

As so many California Chardonnays push the limits of alcohol, oak and sweetness, we appreciate the 2006 vintage from Ancien.  First, it comes from two vineyards and these are both planted with an old clone of Chardonnay reputed to have been planted by Paul Masson, once upon a time, from cuttings provided by Burgundy's Louis Latour.  The clone, today, is often referred to as the "Wente Clone" or the "Robert Young Clone."  

Ken barrel ferments the juice, using oak from three different barrel makers.  He uses both indigenous yeast and cultured yeast strains.  Though half the barrels are brand new, oak does not take center stage in this wine.  The wine really shows a wonderful fragrance and flavor of Chardonnay.  We like the ripe apple and hints of citrus in this dry white.  There's a touch of a toasty aspect, but it's well in the background.

Another pleasant feature of Bernards' wine: he keeps his prices at a reasonable level.  

Currently in stock:  2006 ANCIEN "Carneros" CHARDONNAY $29.99

HANZELL VINEYARDS

2007 Sonoma Valley Chardonnay (List $75) Sale $64.99

This historic winery is a jewel!  It was founded in the 1950s by James D. Zellerbach who named the place Hanzell for his wife Hana.  Zellerbach was, apparently, a fan of European wines.  And why not?  He lived in Europe for many years and was the U.S. Ambassador to Italy.    


Zellerbach constructed a building resembling the Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy.  Zellerbach brought back one other European twist that forever changed the course of California winemaking: French oak barrels!  


On a trip back "home" to California, Zellerbach enlisted some suggestions from University of California enologists as to how he might go about making wines identical (or, at least, comparable) to those he enjoyed from Burgundy.  He listened to their advice and followed virtually all of it with one exception:  he bought barrels from France which had those wooden hoops around them because he liked how they looked in the cellars of Burgundian vintners.  
The winemaker in 1956 was R.B. Webb and the first vintage was sent off to Zellerbach in Rome for his evaluation.  Most tasters identified the wine as a Burgundian Chardonnay, though they couldn't tell if it was Corton-Charlemagne, Meursault, or something from Puligny-Montrachet or Chassagne-Montrachet.  
Well, now nearly half a century later, Hanzell still makes exceptional Chardonnays and still in small quantities.  


Yet their wines taste "old-fashioned" along side the lavishly oaked, full malolactic wonders so popular with eno-scribes and consumers alike.  
All the oak used by Hanzell, run the winemaker Bob Sessions (for as long as we've been buying their wines) comes from the Sirugue cooperage in Nuits-St.-Georges.  They use about one-third new oak each vintage and only 20% of the Chardonnay is fermented in oak.  About half of the wine undergoes a secondary, malolactic fermentation, a small concession to winemaking in the 21st century.  The fruit comes from the old "Wente Clone," which Mr. Sessions credits for the quality and character of the wine.  A typical yield for Hanzell's Chardonnay is about two tons per acre.

Hanzell's Chardonnay is one of the few California white wines with a record of being cellar-worthy.  We've had, from time to time, bottles which were five or more years old and the wines have routinely been exceptional!  With mild oak and a hint of pear-like fruit in their youth, these blossom with notes of honey and toasted hazelnuts as they become mature.  

 

 

PAUL HOBBS

We had an appreciation for Paul Hobbs' wines early on and then felt he veered a bit off course, courting numerical scores from the likes of Robert Parker and The Wine Spectator...the wines, to us, often seemed "extreme."  

When people in the wine business, who ought to know better, simply "sell" wine on the basis of point scores, it's easy to see how winemakers will pander to meet the tastes of these critics.

We, by the way, stopped subscribing to The Wine Spectator years ago and Parker's newsletter no longer comes to our door...you can keep a lot of those high-scoring wines, frankly.  If you like drinking them, then by all means, knock yourself out.

We recently had a look at the current offering in Mr. Hobbs' portfolio and found the wines to be a bit restrained and more elegant than they were a few years ago.  It seems to us the fruit, at least for this 2008 vintage, was harvested at a more sensible level of maturity instead of picking grapes at a potential alcohol level of 16%...

So...the 2008 Russian River Valley Chardonnay:  it's from seven vineyard sites...five clones of Chardonnay...barrel fermented in French oak with a rather cool and prolonged fermentation.  They stirred the yeast sediment every couple of weeks and bottled the wine without filtering it (or fining it, for that matter) in January of 2010.  We like the ripe apple notes and the supporting French oak.  It's still a fairly big wine, but it's not as top-heavy as some of Hobbs' Chardonnays from, say, 2001 to 2006.  

Hobbs, like many "celebrity" winemakers, is not bashful about asking high prices for his wines.  He also demands those purchasing his consulting services have certain minimum prices.  We've sale-tagged this wine to make it a bit more affordable.

Currently in stock:  2008 PAUL HOBBS Russian River Valley CHARDONNAY  (List $50)  SALE $43.99

 

 

JORDAN VINEYARD & WINERY

2007 Sonoma List $35   Sold Out

Former geologist Tom Jordan founded this operation back in 1972.  Their first vintage was the 1976 and the winery has been more famed for its supple, elegant Cabernet Sauvignon.  

Chardonnay has been a nice wine from this producer and we think it's improved quite a bit over the past decade...but they recently increased their price of this wine.  What was a good value at around $25 is now wearing a $35 price tag and we discontinued this.  

It's available by special order.

 

  

 

MER SOLEIL
2006 Central Coast SALE $39.99 (750ml)
2005 in Magnum (list $90)  SALE $79.99

Famous Caymus is owned by the Wagner family.  We've been fans since the 1972 vintage when they were making a whole range of wines, including "Oeil de Perdrix," a pink wine of Pinot Noir.  Imagine Randy Dunn crafting a ros wine of Pinot Noir grown in hotter-than-hell Rutherford!  Those were some days.
Chuck Wagner realized that growing the right grape in the wrong region wasn't going to yield great success. His home base of Napa might be great for Cabernet Sauvignon, but Chardonnay was a different world.  He did some homework and purchased a modest-sized piece of land in Monterey County near Gonzalez.  This young and thriving vineyard is the source of a magnificent and hard-to-get Chardonnay of "Caymus Quality."  

Originally it was called "Mer et Soleil," "sea and sun."  Now it's merely "Mer Soleil." 

The current release is from the 2006 vintage.  It is an opulent California Chardonnay, showing rich, vanillin notes from the oak, yet a peach/ripe pear fruit element.  Quite a mouth-full.  It seems to have about 8 or 9 grams of sugar/liter, so sensitive palates will find it less than bone dry.  

 

MINER FAMILY

We suspect most wine aficionados view the Miner Family brand as a source of good Cabernet and Pinot Noir, but they do a lovely job with Chardonnay, too.

Sourcing fruit from six Napa vineyards, the juice is entirely fermented in small French oak.  About half the cooperage is new and this wine does show a lot of vanillin, creamy, woodsy notes.  It's a big, intense, full-throttle Chardonnay and one of the best $30 Chardonnays we have in this style.

If you prefer a more subtle style of California Chardonnay, this one is probably too big and oaky for you.  On the other hand, if you've enjoyed Rombauer's Chardonnay and want something drier, give this Miner a try.

 

Currently in stock:  2006 MINER Napa CHARDONNAY $29.99

 

 

CHATEAU MONTELENA

Back in 1973 we purchased some cases of Johannisberg Riesling, as they called it, from this brand new Napa Valley estate.  Well, it wasn't exactly new, but the place had been taken over by new owners in 1968 (Lee and Helen Paschich, attorney Jim Barrett and developer Ernest Hahn) after a long "sleep" and with a winemaker of an unusual name, Miljenko Grgić.  

The Riesling was very nice.  And later that year, if I recall correctly, we were able to buy some cases of their 1972 Chardonnay.  And it was just "Chardonnay," not "Pinot Chardonnay" like most California wineries called it.

The wine was very nice and rather showy.  Winemaker Miljenko Grgić, who's known as "Mike Grgich," seemed a bit defensive about the wine.  
Every time I'd see him, he would remind tasters that this wine was a tad higher in alcohol than most other California white wines and so what you might perceive as sweetness, he'd explain, was simply glycerol (a 'higher' alcohol which gives the wine a rounder texture).    
Well, their 1972 and 1973 Chardonnays were very fine and the winery was put on the map in the "Judgment in Paris" tasting back in 1976 when the wine won the tasting, finishing ahead of others from California and some French white Burgundies.

Grgich departed shortly after and partnered with a coffee guy (Austin Hills of Hills Brothers) and started what is now Grgich Hills Cellar. 

Jim Barrett's son, Bo Barrett, has been the winemaker since the 1982 vintage, though he's been involved at the winery since 1972.  In the movie "Bottle Shock," father and son periodically get into a boxing ring by the winery and duke it out, Dad seeming to get the better of things.

 

It would be tempting, then, to say Barrett makes a "knock out of a Chardonnay," but really, Montelena's wine isn't a "heavy hitter."  It's typically less than 14% alcohol, somewhat of a rarity these days.  Further, they don't oak the hell out of the wine.  It's not a butterball, either.  Instead, they make a wine which offers nice green apple fruit, a hint of melon with a note of citrus along with some stony, minerally tones.  You might find a faintly smoky quality here, too.  

The 2007 is the current release and it's a dry, medium-bodied Chardonnay.  Paired with good food, it can be a memorable bottle.  Entered in a blind-tasting, "beauty pageant," it will usually be stomped by bigger, heavier, oakier, flashier wines.

 

Currently in stock:  2007 CHATEAU MONTELENA Napa CHARDONNAY  (List $50)  SALE $44.99
 

 

MOUNT EDEN VINEYARDS

The story of Mount Eden Vineyards is a long and twisted tale.

Located on what was called Table Mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Saratoga, vineyards here were planted by the famous (or notorious) Martin Ray.  Ray had been a stockbroker/real estate mogul and a fancier of fine wine.  This mean "French wine," since to Ray's palate, there was no "fine wine" made in California except for wine he produced!    His first foray into the wine world from a production standpoint was Ray's purchase of Paul Masson's "Champagne" winery in Saratoga.  This he later sold to Seagram's, the big liquor company.  Meanwhile, Ray planted vineyards at his place off of Pierce Road in Saratoga, taking cuttings from Paul Masson's vineyards which had been propagated from Burgundian vine-stock from Louis Latour!  

Martin Ray made today's less-than-humble California vintners appear to be downright gentile by comparison.  He was a rough-and-tumble character, to say the least.  Mount Eden Vineyards emerged when Ray's "investors" forced him to split up the property.  Ray kept some vineyards and the Mount Eden Vineyards brand was born with the 1972 vintage under the guidance of winemaker Merry Edwards.  Her wines were spectacular, thanks to great vineyards, good management and attention to detail in the cellar.

Merry departed in the late 1970s to make wine at Matanzas Creek and Bill Anderson became the winemaker.  Fred Peterson followed with F. Jeffrey Patterson being his assistant winemaker.  Patterson and his wife Ellie took over in 1982 and they've been fixtures there ever since.

The Mount Eden vineyards are at about 2000 feet in elevation and their mostly east-facing situation allows for a long, slow-ripening process during the growing season.  Patterson credits his vineyard work with providing the special character of Mount Eden's "Estate" Chardonnay, more so than his cellar regime.  Don't be fooled, though...you have to be paying attention in the winery to allow the fruit to express the character of this special place (what the French call 'terroir").  

For years Mount Eden's wine displayed more elegance and grace, not to mention intensity and concentration than most California Chardonnays.  The wines also tend to age most wonderfully, thanks to the backbone of good acidity.

The 2005 Estate Bottled Chardonnay is the winery's current release.  It's got the typical, almost spicy tone we often find in Mount Eden Chardonnay.  Think of a brown spice like cloves or cardamom.  For the fruit, imagine a tart, crisp apple with a streak of tangy lemon zest down the middle.   Add some smoky notes and a touch of vanilla along with a whiff of toasted hazelnuts and you are in the neighborhood.  The 2005 is wonderful, deep and complex...Sold out, though.

The winery also produces a Chardonnay from purchased fruit.  This is certainly pleasant, but are not in the complexity range of the estate wines.  

 

A new label is this "Saratoga Cuvée."   The wine is a selection of barrels which did not make the cut for the estate bottled label.  The 2007 is remarkably nice wine and quite fine.  

Of the 2004 I was amused to see the 'ratings' published in one wine-letter which had this wine rated higher than the estate bottled Chardonnay.  I like both wines and find each to be a good choice in their price categories.  I'm not sure I'd take the Saratoga bottling over the estate wine, though.  
Your mileage may vary, however.

The 2007 Saratoga Cuvée is excellent...it's dry and certainly styled along the lines of their Estate wine.  We find this vintage to show a bit more toasty/smoky notes than the lovely 2006.  Very fine and well-priced.

Also, don't confuse Mount Eden Vineyards with Napa's "Villa Mt. Eden."  The latter was a lovely estate in Oakville and today is owned by the Stimson Lane, a subsidiary of U.S. Tobacco ("skoal, brother!").  The legal entanglement over the names being so close ruled that Mount Eden must always be spelled as "m-o-u-n-t," while the other property must always abbreviate the Mt. in Villa Mt. Eden.  Please don't break this code and print it as "Mt. Eden" or "Villa Mount Eden" or you'll be flogged.

Currently in stock:  2004 Mount Eden Vineyards "Estate" Chardonnay Sold Out
2007 Mount Eden Vineyards "Saratoga Cuvée" Chardonnay  (Winery Price is $28)  SALE $22.99 

 

MUELLER

Bob Mueller has been on the California wine scene for many years and it is only in the 1990s that he started his own winery.

Heading for a career in dentistry, Mueller took a job for fun and spending money at the Paul Masson winery in Saratoga.  

He was bitten by the wine "bug" and wound up studying enology at U.C. Davis.  By 1977 he was working in California's Central Valley for a large wine company, making loads of "plonk" as well as grape concentrate which was bought by Welch's for jelly production.  

In 1981 he had moved up to Chateau Souverain in Sonoma.  The winery was sold to Nestlé and Mueller was on the move again.  This time he worked for Vinwood, a big custom crush facility in Sonoma.  Mueller had also "done time" at the Foppiano winery in Sonoma.  

By 1991 he built his own place, having the idea of doing some custom winemaking work while building his own brand.  I know he was a big help to Bay Area jug wine "king" James Arthur Field in producing a red and white table wine which had a most loyal following at the time.  Field always spoke in glowing terms of his friend Bob Mueller, having great admiration for him.

We have great admiration for the Muellers, since their wines have been really exceptional and they are priced sensibly.  

The 2007 Mueller Chardonnay is a very complex Russian River wine.  We find it to be worthy of comparison with Chardonnays from Peter Michael, Flowers, Patz & Hall, Kistler and other famous producers.  The wine is nicely balanced between oak, fruit, toast, butter and cream.  

Currently in stock:  Mueller 2007 Russian River Chardonnay $31.99

 

NEWTON

The late Peter Newton was one of the founders of a famed Napa winery called Sterling Vineyards.  Back at the start, Sterling actually made some really soulful wines, unlike much of the plonk they turn out these days.  


Though he had sold Sterling, Mr. Newton still had a hankering to be in the wine business.   He had purchased a property on Spring Mountain and this was going to be the site of a new winery named after winemaker Ric Forman who had been with Newton in launching Sterling.  Ric was a partner in the venture, owning a significant share.  

Newton's wife, Sue Hua, fancies herself a marketing expert and shortly before the release of the first vintage, it was decided the Newton name would look better on the label than Mr. Forman's.  

So, Forman departed and launched his own winery across the valley, leaving Newton on less-than-amicable terms.  In late 2000 or early 2001 the winery was sold to the Louis Vuitton-Moet Hennessy bunch.  Sue Hua Newton still has a hand in the operations of the winery.  I read someplace where she was described with the title of winemaker!  The woman does, indeed, wear many hats.  At least, on paper.

Newton is somewhat famed for its "Unfiltered" Chardonnay.  The idea for this wine was, as I recall from a visit to the then Forman facility, to replicate a cold cellar in Burgundy.  A well air conditioned cellar would retard the maturation of the wine, allowing for a lengthier period in barrel.  With the slower development, the winemaker (whomever that is) could allow the wine to fall bright thanks to gravity without manipulating the wine.  Thus, Newton's Chardonnay is one of a number of unfiltered wines made at this facility.

The 2006 vintage is a good example of Newton's work.  The wine displays a citrus element, some toasty, smoky notes and a buttery quality.  I'm not sure I'd liken it to a white Burgundy as it's more exotically fruity on the nose, but the wine is certainly of interest and worth trying with rich foods.

I have found their "regular" bottling to be good, too...a big improvement seems to have taken place.  We can special order this for you...they're around $20 a bottle.

 

Currently in stock: 
 2006 Newton "Unfiltered" Chardonnay $59.99

PAHLMEYER

Jayson Pahlmeyer was a trial lawyer who is now making some his his biggest "cases" in the Napa Valley.  He's always been interested in no-holds-barred, over-the-top, pushing-the-envelope winemaking.  From the start he had Randy Dunn for a vintage or two.   Then Helen Turley was involved for a number of years. 
Today it's winemaker Erin Green.

Chardonnays from Pahlmeyer are entirely barrel fermented.  New oak.  Full malolactic.  They're bottled without fining or filtration, so if you want a wine of crystal clarity, these are not your wines.  On the other hand, if you think most white wine is simply "too light" to be of interest, these might just be your kind of vin blancs.

The Pahlmeyer labeled wines are either from Napa or Sonoma.  We usually see a few bottles of the Napa wine.  Big, deep, creamy, vanillin and rich on the palate.  We have the 2007 Napa as of today...what a wine!

The Jayson label is a selection of barrels which did not make the 'cut' for the first label wine.  We have not tasted anything in a few years of this label...

 

Currently in stock:  Jayson 2004 Chardonnay Sold Out
2007 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay $69.99

PATZ & HALL

2007 Napa Valley Chardonnay $37.99
2007 "Hyde" Chardonnay $49.99
2005 "Durell" Chardonnay  $43.99
2004 "Alder Springs" Chardonnay $54.99

Jim Hall is the winemaker and Donald Patz is a marketing whiz.  The two have teamed up to create some terrific wines.  And the wives also play a major role in this winemaking enterprise!

Chardonnay is their main production, though they're venturing off into the world of Pinot Noir and have created a bit of a stir there, too.  Chardonnays are big, creamy, toasty, buttery, showy and very limited. 

The Hyde vineyard bottling is made from rather costly fruit.  The vineyard is situated in the Carneros region and features a couple (at least) of clones of Chardonnay.  One is the Wente clone.  The other is one Mr. Hyde represents as "Hyde Musqué."  The vines of both are young, yet still produce a wine of remarkable intensity.  Patz & Hall's 2007 is quite rich, deep and displays the sweet spice notes along with ripe, appley fruit.  They employed about 75% new oak to this wine, finding the wine could absorb the wood without becoming an oak monster.

Their 2005 Durell is a rather rich and complex wine.  It comes from a vineyard planted for Patz & Hall...rocky soils are what attracted the P & H team to this vineyard site in the Sonoma Valley.  We like the deep fruit and spice notes.  It shows the usual Patz & Hall creamy, woodsy, toasty elements, along with a ripe peach and baked apple notes.  

The 2007 Napa bottling is creamy, rich and has the supple texture one usually finds in P&H Chardonnays. We understand this is their final rendition of "Napa" and that next year the entry level wine will carry a Sonoma appellation.  Whatever...
This wine is perhaps a shade more 'edgy' than the last couple of vintages.  It's dry and struck us as crisper.  Very nice!


The Alder Springs bottling comes from Mendocino and it's a marvelously leesy, smoky, toasty Chardonnay...very fine!

 

 

PRESIDIO WINERY

A customer first clued us in to this Santa Barbara County estate and we've been fans, now, for about a decade, or so.

The Presidio project began in 1991, the work of winemaker and wine-grower Doug Braun.  He has a vineyard site west of Lompoc in a cool-climate area where they grow Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah.  Vineyards are densely-planted and cultivated organically or biodynamically.

We've appreciated their smoky, Burgundian-styled Chardonnays. 
 
They barrel ferment the juice to dryness and the wine spends a bit less than a year on the spent yeast.  It's bottle unfiltered and some vintages are not quite brilliantly clear, but Braun prefers to have the maximum intensity of aromatics and flavors...he feels filtering the wine, while assuring visual clarity, detracts from the hedonistic aspect of their Chardonnay:  aroma and flavor.  

The 2008 is currently in stock...it wears a simple black and white label with the "Artistic License" designation.  This is sort of a reserve level wine.  The flavors are deep and nicely intense...it's a good example of pedal-to-the-metal winemaking in California without losing track of the Chardonnay.

 

Currently in stock:  2008 PRESIDIO WINERY Santa Barbara CHARDONNAY  $17.99
 

 

 

PRIDE
2002 Chardonnay $34.99

This modest estate has one foot in Sonoma County while the other is firmly planted in Napa.

Pride Mountain Vineyards is far better known for its red wines than for Chardonnay. 

But they make a nice bottle of California Chardonnay.  The 2002 features a green apple fruit quality with some woodsy, spicy notes and a note of coconut.  You might even get a whiff of butterscotch here.  Limited availability.

 

OJAI VINEYARD

Sold Out Presently

We can easily say this is the best winery in Ventura County!  Adam Tolmach is one of the founding partners in the Au Bon Climat winery and today his efforts are concentrated on The Ojai Vineyard.  Adam and wife, Helen, make some exceptional wines, the lineup featuring a Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Syrah, Pinot Noir and some wonderful Chardonnays.  

Mildly oaky, buttery, creamy, dry and elegant.   Adam is really a fussy fellow in terms of procuring the best grapes and in the cellar.  His wines are routinely outstanding.

The 2003 Bien Nacido Chardonnay in stock presently  comes from vineyards surrounding the Qupe/Au Bon Climat facility.  Adam directs the farming practices and insists upon low yields which he credits with allowing the wine to really show the character of the vineyard.  As has been customary for this vineyard-designated Chardonnay, new oak is not a part of the profile here.  That's because Adam says he wants to merely "season" the wine by giving it some exposure to older barrels, rather than bludgeon it to death with tons of wood.  There's a nice appley tone to the fruit, a hint of smokiness and a streak of minerality here.  Very nice.

The 2005 Bien Nacido is quite good...it's probably a bit too sophisticated of a wine for those who enjoy big, slightly sweet, hugely oaky Chardonnays.  Quite good, though.

 

 

RIDGE VINEYARDS
2006 Santa Cruz Mountains CHARDONNAY $39.99

Many Chardonnay drinkers don't associate Ridge Vineyards with their favorite grape.  We are happy about that as, frankly, we don't want the word to get out that Ridge makes really great Chardonnay.

They've periodically produced really Burgundian-styled Chardonnay from their Santa Cruz-grown fruit.  Recently they've decided to cash in on the fame of their Monte Bello Cabernet by offering a Monte Bello Chardonnay.  That means big bucks, of course.  But they don't produce this designation each and every vintage.

We had a 2004 Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay...it sat in the bin and we'd show it to customers who seemed to have an interest in this rather unusual style of California Chardonnay.  Then, all of a sudden, people were picking up bottles of Ridge Chardonnay.  
Again, this is a wine we recommend only to customers who indicated an appreciation for this style of wine.  It's not a universally-appealing Chardonnay.  But it seems The Wine Spectator gave the wine its blessing and a high numerical score.  Suddenly people HAD to have Ridge Chardonnay, even though they do not like this style of wine.  One customer, a fan of the sweet, fruity Chardonnay of Rombauer, told us "It got 90-something points, so even if I don't like it, my friends will be impressed."
Sad.


If the Santa Cruz bottling got 95 points, the Monte Bello bottling should have gotten 110 to 120 points.  I dare say that the folks at Domaine Leflaive would not mind having this in one of their Puligny-Montrachet offerings.  It's a bit higher in alcohol than a typical white Burgundy, but the wine is very impressive nonetheless.  It's a smoky, toasty, grandiose bottle of Chardonnay.  Kudos to Paul Draper and the team at Ridge for successfully "capturing" such complexity and depth in this wine.

The 2006 Santa Cruz Mountains bottling was released in March of 2008.  Lovely wine.  It's a shade less smoky than the previous release, but it's still a stellar example of Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay.  Limited availability, of course.

ROMBAUER
2008 Napa Valley (List $32)  SALE $27.99
2007 Napa Valley Magnums $74.99

The Rombauer winery has been a promoter of the "Joys of Chardonnay" for many years.  Their wine has become quite popular over the past few vintages and the 2007 remains true to the Rom-Bomb recipe. 

Speaking of recipes, Koerner Rombauer's great aunt Irma was an author of a rather famous American cookbook, depicted to the right.

You'll find the 2008 Chardonnay, made by winemaker Greg Graham (we used to have some of his own-labeled wines), is rich, buttery and creamy, with the whole fruit basket of apples, pears and such, typical of Rombauer's work.  It's oaky, flashy and has a bit of sweetness to it.  

Customers who ask for this tend to be ardent Rom-Bomb fans.  The wine is not at all subtle...it's an in-your-face, lavishly oaky, big, fat butterball of a Chardonnay.  If you ask these fans if they like dry wines, they will tell you "YES!"   
Hardly.

RAMEY
2007 Russian River $38.99
2005 Carneros "Hudson Vineyard" (List 65) Sale $57.99
2005 Carneros "Hudson" Magnums $135 list  SALE $124.99
2006 Carneros "Hyde Vineyard" (List $65)  Sale $57.99
2006 Russian River Valley "Ritchie Vineyard" Sold Out

David Ramey has been around the Northern California wine scene for many years.  He was associated with Simi during the "Zelma Long Administration," when Simi was actually turning out some serious quality wines.

From there he went to Matanzas Creek, making some lovely wines back in the mid to late-1980s.  He packed his bags again, being affiliated with Chalk Hill and turning out some lovely wines there.  I don't know precisely what happened, but he must have been sentenced to do a stint at Napa's Dominus winery.  Somehow, Ramey escaped from there and was then employed by the Rudd winery as he also launched his own label.

Ramey now is making his own wines at his own facility in Healdsburg in Sonoma County.  He has a couple of "appellation" series wines along with some vineyard designated bottlings.  Ramey Chardonnays have been very good wines, certainly amongst the upper echelon produced in California.  His wines are intended for those who appreciate serious quality Chardonnays.  They are routinely dry, balanced with crisp acidity and not the fat, flabby butterball-style of wine which is often popular with those just getting into wine.

The Russian River bottling is a lovely example of Ramey Chardonnay.  Mildly appley with fairly crisp acidity, no sugar and a hint of a minerally tone.

There are some bottles of Ramey's fine 2005 Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay in the shop.  This is a Carneros vineyard planted with a Chardonnay clone from Wente Brothers.  Interestingly (well, maybe not), the wine sees a rather high percentage of new oak, yet you won't find it to be especially woody.  Ramey credits the structure and "density" of the wine with for this feature.  It's left on the spent yeast for more than 20 months and is bottled unfiltered.  Very fine, yet it's full on the nose and on the palate.  

The Hyde bottling features Wente clones as well.  The original Wente clone, with Robert Young and Long clones (which were, as we understand it, taken from the old Wente clone, once upon a time).  Clay soil.  Nice acidity and balance to this wine.  It's quite elegant and very fine...

The Ritchie Vineyard is a wonderful bottling from the Russian River Valley.  The vines are an old Wente clone of Chardonnay and in Ramey's capable hands, this is a splendidly showy wine.  Toasty and spicy, this shows hints of pineapple and creamy notes.  Very fine.  Very rare.

SAINTSBURY WINERY
2007 Carneros Chardonnay  (list $21) SALE $17.78

Since the early 1980s, Dick Ward and David Graves have been making some of the best Chardonnays in California.  The fruit comes exclusively from the Carneros region.  They now even have some of their own vineyards!
Barrel-fermentation is normal at this winery.  So are dry wines.  In an era when so many California Chardonnays are fruity and sweet or have aromatic notes reminiscent of Muscat, Saintsbury continues to produce appley, subtle Chardonnay wines of elegance and restraint.  For those readers lurking in some distant, remote part of the planet, these are good wines which can be sometimes found in the middle-of-nowhere.   I highly recommend them!

 The 2007 "regular" bottling of Chardonnay is very fine, being a classic example of Carneros Chardonnay.  It displays a wonderful balance of peach/nectarine with a hint of citrus to balance the nice toasty and smoky notes.  Some of the toast comes from fermentation in oak, but periodic stirring of the yeast sediment accounts for some toastiness, too.  The wine is brilliant and drinking beautifully now.  I suspect this will develop additionally if stored for another few years, but it's hard to resist now.  

They do make a "reserve" wine, but I don't find the current wine to be quite to the level of quality as it should be for the $40 price tag.

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I recall, some years ago, Saintsbury Chardonnay was described by The Wine Spectator as buttery and toasty and then given a score of 69 points on their silly 100-point scale.   I was not alone in sending in a note asking about this curious score.  Here was a wine, highly-regarded by those in the trade, yet some dim-bulb at the Spectator could accurately describe a lovely wine, but couldn't recognize it as anything special.   One or two issues later they had virtually the same description, but increased the points by about 20!  These days Saintsbury is higher on their list for ratings.   We still like the wine, anyway.

 

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I have been fortunate to have been along for a visit of some Italian winemaker's visits at Saintsbury.  I recall each time being offered a taste of either the first or second vintages made by Ward and Graves.  These wines, at an advanced age, continue to show amazingly well!  I remember one set of Italian winemakers going crazy upon tasting a California white wine, well more than ten years of age, which was STILL ALIVE and more than kicking! 
The point here is that you ought to consider having a few bottles of Saintsbury Chardonnay as part of your "aging" program.  They are really much better even just a year or two down the road.

SHAFER

The Shafer family started in the 1978 vintage making some nice, ripe, robust red wines.  Cabernet Sauvignon was their claim to fame, but some years later they added Chardonnay to the roster.

In 1988 they purchased 70 acres of land in the Carneros region and this is where they planted a handful of clones of Chardonnay.  The first wine they made from this site, called Red Shoulder Ranch for the red-shouldered hawks that fly over this area, was different from other Chardonnays Shafer had made.  The  wine had greater intensity and complexity and it seemed to the Shafers that it needed extended barrel aging to fully develop.

With the 1994 vintage, they chose to focus on this vineyard site and Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay has been their flagship white wine ever since. 

Whole-cluster pressed...wild yeast fermentation...half new oak, half once-used cooperage.  Some of the wood is American oak which adds a nicely spicy note to the wine.  The wine usually spends a bit more than a year on the spent yeast and this sediment is periodically stirred to add texture and nuance to the wine.  No malolactic.  

We currently have their 2006 in the store.  It's got a spice note which we suspect is, at least in part, comes from the American oak.  But there's a nice hint of honeydew melon, some ripe apple fruit and a faintly honeyed tone to the wine.  It's dry, reasonably full and is held together by a bit of acidity which keeps it bright.

Currently in stock:  2006 SHAFER "Carneros" Red Shoulder Ranch CHARDONNAY  $47.99

TANDEM 

This is a label that's well below the radar for most wine drinkers and yet we've often found really top quality and sensible pricing.

The brand started out as a collaboration of a couple of wine industry guys...a vineyard guy and a cellar guy.  But the two fellows couldn't actually work "in tandem" and so today only the cellar guy remains.

That would be Greg La Follette, a fellow whose wines eclipse, frequently, those of far more famous "celebrity" winemakers.  He was at the helm of Flowers Vineyard & Winery at its inception and he made their first vintages.  

Tandem Chardonnays typically show good varietal character, Burgundian-styling and something called "terroir."  Many vintners speak of terroir, but if you taste a number of Tandem wines in a flight, you can easily see they come from different places.  These subtle differences in aromas, intensity, minerality/fruity notes are features of terroir.  In a period when you'll see the winemaker's fingerprints all over every wine he or she produces, this fellow actually allows the particular vineyard or region to take the spotlight.

We tasted the 2006 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay and thought it was pretty good.  To put it to the test, we included it in a line-up of Chardonnays and it won the tasting handily.  Toasty notes from some stirring of the lees, along with nice oak, unmistakable Chardonnay fruit (apples/pears), good acidity and no residual sugar are all features of this wine.

If you need a "label," there are wines such as Far Niente and Cakebread.  If you need a bit of sweetness, there are wines such as Rombauer's and Kendall Jackson's.  But if you'd like a classically-styled Chardonnay from California that's worthy of comparison to good French white Burgundy, I can suggest Kistler, Aubert, Ramey, Patz & Hall and this guy's.

Currently in stock:  2006 TANDEM Sonoma Coast CHARDONNAY $32.99

 

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Last modified:  September 2, 2010