Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Saturday, October 1, 2022 - 13% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Quite deep and moderately concentrated golden-yellow color with an amber core. The nose feels evolved, but not as much as one would anticipate from the aged appearance - there are complex aromas of caramel and butterscotch, some bruised apple tones, a little bit of oxidative nuttiness, light smoky tones, a curious hint of beeswax or honeycomb and a touch of cooked cream. The wine feels dry, evolved and rather toasty on the palate with a full body and flavors of caramel and butterscotch, some oxidative nutty notes, a little bit of buttered graham toast, light bruised apple tones, sweet hints of honey and lemon marmalade and a touch of dried pineapple. The medium acidity keeps the wine in balance, but the overall feel is still a bit on the broad and heavy side of things. The finish is long and toasty with flavors of caramel, some bruised apple, a little bit of browned butter, light oxidative nuances of chopped nuts, a hint of toasted bread and a touch of dried pineapple.

This was a quite lovely effort - very aged and starting to show some oxidative qualities, but still not ponderous or too heavy. Unlike previous bottle we tasted a year ago, this wasn't as "aged Riesling-like" in character - despite its slightly honeyed and lemon marmaladey-like nuances - as several people went to aged Chardonnay quite immediately and to California not much later. I'd say this bottle was in a slightly better shape than the one we had before, but they both were in a great shape for their age; definitely not too old - which really surprised me. Nevertheless, as I've said in my previous TN, despite its lovely tertiary qualities I don't think this wine still manages to reach true greatness. It's an enjoyable old Cali Chardonnay, but nothing more beyond that.

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