Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Wednesday, May 25, 2022 - 100% Chardonnay from Contrada Guardiola and Monte Dolce vineyards averaging 18 years in age, fermented for 20 days in stainless steel, aged for 10 months in oak casks and concrete tanks, bottled in July 2019. 13,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.

Quite deep and luminous yellow-green color. Ripe yet somewhat restrained nose with quite light aromas of juicy pineapple, a little bit of white peach, light cantaloupe nuances, a hint of skunky reduction and sulfurous smoke, a touch of something waxy and a whiff of vague spicy character. The medium-to-moderately full-bodied wine is dense and rather concentrated on the palate, yet flavor-wise relatively understated with its flavors of stony minerality, some dried herbs, a little bit of ripe cantaloupe, light nuances of fresh white peach and a hint of alcohol. The moderately high acidity lends good sense of balance to the wine. The finish is ripe, slightly warm and somewhat waxy with a medium-long aftertaste of fresh white peach, some cantaloupe, a little bit of crunchy golden apple, light stony mineral notes and a hint of reductive smoke.

A pleasant but also somewhat neutral and understated Chardonnay that feels relatively closed, at least at the moment. The overall feel is - at least structurally - nicely balanced, but the wine feels rather mute aromatically. There are certain aromas and flavors, but they feel very distant and subtle, which in turn makes the alcohol stick out in a bit awkward fashion. Perhaps the wine is just in a slump now and will open up better if given a few more years in a cellar? It was quite impossible to recognize it for either an Italian white or a Chardonnay.

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