1980 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay

Community Tasting Notes (7) Avg Score: 89.5 points

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  12/22/2023 - Vinnut wrote:

  I found this lone bottle (along with single bottles of the 81, 82 & 83 as well) tucked away in a box in my cellar with no indications it was in there. The fill level was down below the neck, but the color looked decent. So, I decided to pop it open & see what was inside. (I'll open the other vintages at a later time.)
  Medium golden in color with just a slight touch of browning. The nose was initially reticent, but it eventually opened up with airing to revel bare bone aromas of some faint flower notes, toasty/smoky oak & caramelized notes. Medium-light body of faint ripe fruit flavors of citrus notes dominated by toasty oak notes & a slight hint butterscotch. Lingering dry finish. Overall, for a 43-year-old Chardonnay, it wasn't exactly DOA, but it was it was an interesting experience on how these older wines age. Cork was clean & intact.

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  12/18/2023 - RichEB1 Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Tomorrow is my Bday so will be opening some birth-year wines, and this was first on the list. Was able to score a couple of these at auction a while back and the fill/color looked excellent so I was 'cautiously optimistic'. Welp....I'm happy to report that this wine was absolute fire!! Straw/amber in color with a lovely nose of honeyed apples. On the palate this is outstanding, with lemons, citrus, sour apples, and some slight butterscotch on the finish. Medium bodied with plenty of acidity. History in a bottle that I feel very fortunate to have had the pleasure of drinking. And as always....bonus points for being a birth-year wine :)

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  4/23/2023 - mflesh wrote:

  Served En Magnum. Cork withdrawn intact. Poured a darker straw color but compared to the 1979 Schramsberg Reserve from Magnum that it was served right next to, this one was the lighter of the 2. People were mostly right on this wine. They knew it was aged, most knew it was California Chardonnay but no one got close to a guess of 1980. This wine is thick, dense, and yet still had a huge amount of things going on. At the advice of someone who had opened up a 750 of this wine (slightly different vintage), I was advised that a ONE HOUR decant was needed. I took that advice and very glad I did. Overripe yellow fruits, banana nut bread, pecans and hint of oregano and some tangerine spice. Still had a lot of white pepper on the finish. Really in a great place, But certainly isn't getting any better. This was the right time to open this with a bunch of wino geek friends and we had an awesome time geeking out on this one!

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  4/14/2023 - Gregmonroe wrote:

  JD Friday Wine Group - SA and MF co-host (City Club FW): Served blind - caramel, butterscotch color. At first, very little on the nose. But with time in the glass, it opened up. Never super forward or fruity, but definitely that caramel, butterscotch, burned sugar nose. Even with a slight bit of smoke. I was confident it was a chardonnay. It still had life, though it was obviously old. I guessed a late 90s Napa chardonnay. It was similar to a 1997 Pahlmeyer chardonnay I've had a few times. I would have never guessed a birth year (for me) chardonnay. What a fantastic experience! Served from magnum.

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  12/27/2021 - Venice Al Likes this wine:

  A perfectly stored bottle that still struts its stuff. Fruit is apricot and peaches, and butterscotch, and some smoke. definitely tastes older than the clos du val but still really good- less acid, but beautiful old fruit. Apricot, apricot, apricot dominates as it sits in the glass. 40 plus and shows what California did before they tried to please the critics. Bravo!

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