Last weekend, my wife and I stayed at Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate in Dry Creek Valley. But it wasn’t our first trip there together.
We’ve been to this beautiful jewel a few times. And the first time we came, we had the 2009 Pinot Blanc. And it was spectacular.
But I already wrote about that wine. Now I’m writing about the newest incarnation of this refreshing, delicious wine.
Pinot blanc is something I’ve liked for a long time. Most of the time, it’s light, and crisp, and refreshing. Sometimes it’s tropical. Usually, there’s a chalkiness, or a minerality that rocks.
The pinot blanc from Michel-Schlumberger is everything you could want in a pinot blanc. In the glass, it’s incredibly light, almost clear, but with a pretty lemongrass tint.
On the nose is the most incredible tropical bouquet, a mixture of floral aromas with grapefruit and light citrus oils. And on the palate, well, this is something you could drink almost anywhere, almost any time.
It’s bright, and crisp. It’s light, and clean. But it manages to pack a lot of flavor into what seems like a “small” package—this is no “big wine,” by any stretch. The finish lingers nicely, but not for too long. Grapefruit, the smallest hint of lime, perhaps even a touch of passionfruit, all with the clean chalky minerality that keeps everything in check and makes sure we don’t even tiptoe into the sweet zone.
This is even better than the 2009. There’s more complexity this year, and the aromas are a bit more varied. You cannot go wrong here.
Verdict: 90/100
Price point: $24