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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
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- 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.
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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
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Currently in stock: 2006 MINER Napa CHARDONNAY $29.99
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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.
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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.
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Currently in stock: 2007 CHATEAU MONTELENA Napa
CHARDONNAY (List $50) SALE $44.99
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- 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.
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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
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- 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
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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.
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- Currently in stock:
2006 Newton "Unfiltered" Chardonnay $59.99
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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...
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- Currently in stock: Jayson 2004 Chardonnay Sold Out
2007 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay $69.99
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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!
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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.
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- Currently in stock: 2008 PRESIDIO WINERY Santa Barbara
CHARDONNAY $17.99
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- 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.
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- 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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Currently in stock: 2006 TANDEM Sonoma Coast
CHARDONNAY $32.99
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