2013 Chappellet Chenin Blanc

Community Tasting Notes (17) Avg Score: 89.5 points

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  2/11/2023 - speverest54 Likes this wine:

  Nose: clean, moderate, vinous, skins of apples, melons, and stone fruit, orange flowers, faint smoke, sheep’s cheese. Tastes like creamy strawberry with bitterness, 60+sec finish, lovely oak underlying the flavor. Acidity barely pools around base of tongue, guessing 13.5% alch and listed at 14.1. Listed ~$45 online. Pritchard Hill, St. Helena, Napa Valley. Pritchard, named after the first grape grower, has Sobrante series soil covering 340 acres and sits above the fog line. Chappellet is well regarded family founded 1968. 800-1800 ft. elevation. They made their name with a 1969 legendary CabSav

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  2/3/2023 - Peter Spijker Does not like this wine: 89 Points

  Very high in alcohol, full bodied, lemon, some apple. Not to my liking due to the alcohol.

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  12/4/2021 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points

  This bottle - also known as Signature Chenin Blanc and Molly Chappellet Chenin Blanc - is a 100% Chenin Blanc from Napa Valley, fermented in used French oak barrels, stainless steel tanks and a Nomblot concrete egg tank. 14,5% alcohol.
  
  Pale lemon yellow color with a deeper straw-yellow core. Quite ripe, nuanced and pretty seductive nose of juicy yellow stone fruits, some evolved waxy richness, a little bit of hay, light creamy tones, a hint of woolly lanolin and a nutty touch of slivered almonds. The overall impression isn't huge, but very attractive and full of layers. The wine feels ripe, vibrant and quite concentrated on the palate with intense, subtly sweet-toned flavors of juicy Golden Delicious apple, some stony mineral tones, light oaky notes of creaminess and toasted spices, a little bit of evolved nuttiness and waxy character, a floral hint of apple blossom and a subtly bitter touch of pithy pomelo. The high acidity lends great intensity, firmness and sense of structure to the wine, while the rather high alcohol lends a little bit of warmth to the palate. The finish is bright, structured and quite persistent with intense flavors of apple jam and ripe peachy fruit, some nutty notes of wood, a little bit of creaminess, light stony mineral nuances and a hint of wizened stone fruits.
  
  I honestly didn't have high expectations at first when I saw the wine - a Napa Chenin clocking in at 14,5% alcohol. Well, fortunately I tasted the wine with an open mind, since it turned out to be a real stunner - while quite substantial, it never felt heavy, ponderous or overdone in any way. Instead the ripeness was at just the right level, retaining enough freshness and focus to balance out the richness and sweeter fruit nuances. The wine bears a little bit of oak influence, but it feels very judicious and well-integrated with the fruit. And what's most important, the wine has high acidity which is absolutely necessary for a good Chenin Blanc, be it a light and crisp one, or big, ripe and burly. There is no way one could mistake this for a light and mineral Loire Valley Chenin, but stylistically this is quite close to the best South African Chenin Blancs - albeit perhaps showing a bit more weight and ripeness. All in all, for such a big and ripe wine, this is nothing short of excellent; despite its size this wine shows fantastic sense of balance, focus and freshness. Although a bit evolved in character, I expect this wine to continue improving for another 4-7 years, if not even longer. A complete wine in every way, good value at 34,50€.

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  3/24/2018 - davewr Likes this wine: 94 Points

  This is now a complete wine. Fruit, mineralogy, acidity all fully integrated and balanced. Tropical fruit, apricot, honeydew leads to a wonderful long finish.

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  11/13/2017 - jkscully Likes this wine:

  This Chenin started with creamy banana, peach, and other tropical fruits. The finish had notes of white pepper, rosemary, green grass, and that quintessential touch of honey that, to me, defines Chenin Blanc. Although, not surprisingly, it didn’t have the same intensity of chalky minerality that was present in the Touraine examples from last week (no Tuffeau limestone on Pritchard Hill), it did have a nice saltiness to it on day 2 and even a touch of baked apple. I actually liked it better on day 2, which makes me wonder if could have improved with a few more years of bottle age.
  
  People say that this is one of the best New World examples of Chenin Blanc and I can believe it. It’s a very nice wine. My only complaint is that I thought the flavors were a bit muddled and difficult to discern. This isn’t a bad thing, but it made it a little less intellectually stimulating.
  
  The richness of this wine should be kept in mind when pairing it with food. It was an excellent match with bacon wrapped scallops and spicey fish stew, but it overpowered milld flavors of pork chops and spaghetti with garlic and oil (whereas the simple Montlouis paired perfectly with this dish).

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