1982 Beringer Vineyards Chardonnay Gamble Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 87 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View forceberry's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/3/2020 - forceberry wrote: 87 Points

  12,5% alcohol.
  
  Luminous coppery-orange color. Aged, tertiary nose with aromas of caramel and beeswax, Tosca pie, some bitter almond oil, a little bit of butterscotch, light fruity notes of orange marmalade and wizened peach, old wine notes of mothballs and antique furniture and a touch of Tawny port. The nose feels somewhat unpleasant at first, showing signs of old bottle stink, but slowly blows the funky notes off and starts to feel enjoyable. The wine is bone-dry, lean and medium-bodied on the palate with a thinned-out feel to it. Very tertiary flavors of cloudberries, savory old wood, some apple peel bitterness, light burnt sugar tones, a little bit of tangy salinity, a hint of quince and a nutty touch of sharp rancio. Surprisingly high in acidity. The finish is tertiary and bone-dry with flavors of burnt sugar bitterness, roasted nuts, some smoke, light green apple tones, a little bit of dry white smoke, a sharp hint of rancio and a funky touch of old furniture.
  
  A very old and quite tertiary yet still somewhat pleasant Napa Chardonnay. The wine is at first rather dull and lean with a somewhat funky streak of bottle stink, but manages to get its game together for a small while. There seems to be a very small drinking window for this wine once the bottle is opened, since it isn't that pleasant immediately after opening but it also starts to fade away quite quickly. For the moment when the wine has blown its bottle funk yet hasn't started to fade away, it shows great complexity and freshness with still a smidgen of fruit. This is very old and tertiary, yes, but there's pleasure to be had, if you happen to be there at the right moment. The score reflects how the wine performs at its best; this is not a great transcendental old Chardonnay, but one that is on its decline already, yet not fully dead.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.