Chardonnay | Notes From The Cellar

August 24th, 2010

Napa White Shows Off Less-Common French Grapes

2008 Tallulah Como

I like white wine. I actually do. If you’re reading this, chances are decent that you yourself are a wine blogger, or at the least you’re kind of a wine nerd. So maybe you haven’t experienced, recently, the concept that so many people have in life, which is that they are either “white wine” drinkers or “red wine” drinkers.

Me, I’m a wino (and a discussion about “taking that term back” would be a worthy one, for another time).

While I once would have sworn up-and-down that red wine is the only wine for me, I have long ago now (or so it seems) accepted that good wine comes in many different—ahem—varieties.

And this, dear readers, is the kind of white wine I get especially excited about.

First off, the varietal makeup here is not something you’re going to be particularly familiar with, as it’s predominantly a lesser-drunk-here-in-the-States Rhône Valley grape (marsanne), mixed with an only-slightly-more-common Rhône grape (viognier) and the Queen of White Wine (and of Burgundy), chardonnay.

More precisely, the 2008 Como from Tallulah Wines is Napa Valley juice, and 53% marsanne, 37% chardonnay, and 10% viognier.

So, what’s it like? Tasty. Tasty, tasty, tasty.

The wine is bright in the glass, and gives off a bright, sharp yellow-gold color. The nose starts off a bit predictable—featuring a pear note off the bat—then starts throwing you curve balls, as some light spices mix with ripe melon and apricot aromas.

The wine is medium-to-full bodied, which I found I expected due to its color and viscosity when swirled. The spice notes from the nose mix with a tropical cornucopia of citrus (mostly orange), pineapple, and cantaloupe.

The fuller-bodied nature of this wine keeps me from describing it as particularly “crisp,” but the tropical, melon-revolving aromas and flavors are so refreshing, that this still works wonders as a chilled summertime white.

Even if you’d never heard of marsanne.

Verdict: A-

Tallulah Wines

Tags: 2008, A-, chardonnay, marsanne, Napa Valley, Tallulah Wines, Tropical Vacation Approved!, viognier

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August 2nd, 2010

From Washington? From Oregon? From The Columbia Valley

2008 Don Carlo Chardonnay

On the second day of the 2010 Wine Bloggers’ Conference in Walla Walla, WA, we got a bit of a geography lesson.

The local AVA, the Walla Walla Valley, crosses borders.

See, I’d always thought of the Walla Walla Valley AVA as “Washington wine.” Ditto for its parent region, the Columbia Valley AVA. Problem is, some of the grapes grown in the AVA are grown in Oregon.

As a Californian, this idea is wholly foreign. It’s like when an east coaster talks about driving for five hours and passing through a half-dozen (or more!) states. I live a 7-8 hour drive to Arizona, a 3+ hour drive to Nevada, and a 5-ish hour drive to Oregon. I wouldn’t even know how to get to Idaho from here.

But there it is, an AVA associated primarily with one state, that is nonetheless geographically part of a second.

We took a bus from the Marcus Whitman Hotel into the Land Of No Sales Tax, where I spent about 11 weeks of my collegiate career, and met Lori and Tim Kennedy, proprietors/vintners/viticulturists/etc. for Don Carlo Vineyards, named after Lori’s Italian immigrant grandfather.

These Oregonians are making some fine, fine wine in the name of one of Washington State’s largest AVAs.

The 2008 Don Carlo Chardonnay is a bright golden-yellow in the glass. It’s doesn’t look too heavy or dark, but certainly shows off more color than, say, a sauvignon blanc. The nose is bright and crisp, featuring primarily an apple note, along with a hint of green grass.

The wine is light-bodied and smooth, with enough buttery/oaky character to slake the thirst of those who love the more “traditional” New World chard, but also featuring the apple from the nose and a pleasant cantaloupe note for those who like something a bit crisper and more fruit-forward.

The wine feels just slightly kissed by oak, and should please fans of either style. A fine example of Oregon Chardonnay.

Verdict: B+

2008 Don Carlo Chardonnay

Tags: 2008, B+, chardonnay, Columbia Valley, Don Carlo Vineyards

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July 13th, 2010

Chardonnay From Another Planet (Actually, From Tuscany)

2007 Felsina Berardenga ‘I Sistri’ Chardonnay

The concept and history of the Super Tuscan is one of my favorite stories in wine.

First off, it just sounds cool. “Super Tuscan.” Like a crime-fighting superhero who loves pasta and his nonna. But the best part is, of course, how this rogue brand of Italian winemaking came to be.

See, before the 1970s, everyone who made fine wine in Italy did so under the strict rules laid down by the governmental DOC and DOCG bodies, which defined things like the fact that Chianti Classico is a blend, with sangiovese as the dominant grape, and that Barolo is always 100% nebbiolo, etc. But DOC(G) classifications also define almost every element of the winemaking process, like what to use during, and for how long fermentation can occur, to barrel-aging requirements, picking procedures and methods, and on, ad nauseum.

In the 70s, a winemaker in Chianti Classico had had enough. While he was not the first to do this, he may have been the most famous. Piero Antinori wanted to take the Chianti Classico his family had made for over six centuries and make a richer variant. He removed the white grapes from the traditional (and DOCG-required) blend and replaced them with Bordeaux varieties, mostly cabernet sauvignon and merlot. He called the wine Tignanello.

The thing is, Tignanello was not Chianti Classico, though it was wine made from one of the region’s esteemed producers, and still predominantly featured sangiovese. They could not use the name, and in fact, the bottle had to feature the phrase vino da tavola, or “table wine,” normally a phrase reserved for low-grade juice, which Antinori’s new concoction was not.

To this day, the same is true. DOC(G) requirements have not changed. The Italians have created a new label to stamp on fine wine that does not conform to DOC(G) scripture, “IGT.” This wine from Chianti Classsico producer Fattoria di Felsina falls into this IGT category.

The ‘I Sistri’ is 100% chardonnay, and a dark, rich, lustrous gold in the glass. The nose is also rich and lush, featuring, predominantly, notes of pecan praline and honey. This is not chardonnay as I have tasted either from California, or from my favorite French region for the grape, Chablis.

The honeyed nuttiness continues on the palate, as this medium-to-full bodied white brings the same honey and pecan praline flavors from the nose. There is a little residual sugar, it seems, but this is not a dessert wine by any means. On the back end is the most incredible finish of cinnamon that I have ever tasted, and not some sickly-sweet-spicy-fake cinnamon, but like real, freshly grated cinnamon.

Really quite impressive, actually. Not for everyone, to be sure, and not something I would want to drink every day. But if you’re someone who thinks of white wine as the sole province of summer, the warmth and sweet spice of this wine would turn anyone into a chardonnay-in-winter convert.

Verdict: A-

2007 Felsina Berardenga 'I Sistri' Chardonnay

Tags: 2007, A-, chardonnay, Chianti Classico, Fattoria di Felsina, Tuscany

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June 4th, 2010

Supple Sparkler Celebrates Site Centennial

NV Domaine Chandon étoile Brut

It’s my 100th wine review on Notes From The Cellar.¹

I think it only fitting, then, that my 100th review is that of a celebratory wine. A real aperitif-style sparkling wine from the Napa outpost of one of Champagne’s greatest chateaux, Moët et Chandon.

The Domaine Chandon étoile Brut is DC’s prestige cuvée,² and while it’s certainly no Dom Perignon, it’s a tasty little sucker. Aged for at least five years sur lees, it’s a wine they take very good care of.

In the glass, the wine is an extremely light yellow. Really, it’s off-white. The bubbles are tiny, and though there aren’t a ton of them, they move swiftly and put on a helluva show. On the nose, the wine shows off some pretty awesome notes of shortbread, lemon, apple, and vanilla.

The étoile is light bodied and crisp, with notes of honey and candied lemon zest joining a yeasty creaminess, and the apple and vanilla notes from the nose.

There’s a lot going on here, but don’t be scared off. The Domaine Chandon étoile is a wonderful way to toast a celebration—even one much, much more significant than a wine blog’s 100th wine review.

Verdict: A-

NV Domaine Chandon étoile Brut

Footnotes

To be fair, this isn’t the hundredth wine I’ve reviewed. The Wine Cube got two different treatments, and I’ve done one vertical review of four wines, those of Dunn Howell Mountain, but this is the 100th post I’ve made that has been marked “review.” ↩
I find it hard to believe they even use this term, when—and someone feel free to correct me if I’m wrong—I believe the prestige cuvées from Champagne are always vintage wines ↩

Tags: A-, chardonnay, Domaine Chandon, Napa Valley, pinot meunier, pinot noir, Sonoma County

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May 27th, 2010

Dredging Salmon Creek To Find A Chardonnay

2009 Salmon Creek California Chardonnay

This is the kind of wine that gets me in trouble.

Not because it’s difficult to review, or because it’s getting a particular score (good, bad, or mediocre), or because a friend makes it or I like the people at the winery, or anything like that.

This is going to make me look like a snob.

This is the kind of wine that if you ask people at a wine shop, they not only won’t have it (it’s primarily sold at restaurants), but they may give you the stinkeye if you say you like it. I’m not here to do that. I still believe to each their own, and that just because I don’t like the wine doesn’t mean someone else can’t. I still believe that. But this is really crappy wine.

The 2009 Salmon Creek California Chardonnay (they also make a more regionally-specific Napa Valley chard, but this is not that) starts off just fine, it glows ever-so-faintly in the glass, a pretty light yellow straw. On the nose is some red apple (not nearly as bright and clean-smelling as a green apple note would be) and some wood.

Did I mean “oak”? No, interrupting reader, I did not. I meant “wood.”

The wine is medium-bodied and shows off an astonishingly high amount of heat for a wine that clocks in at 12.5%. There’s no balance here. What fruit notes are here are very tart apple, and not much else. More wood notes (still doesn’t come off like “oak” to me, really).

All in all, blecch.

Verdict: C-