Kistler Chards 1994-2002 TN (Long)
F. Patterson - Chicago
Tasted Thursday, August 4, 2005 by KenK with 997 views
Introduction
My weekly tasting group got together to try a broad range of single vineyard Kistlers. The wines were served blind. General comments were that the wines were rich and loaded with ripe fruit flavors, lots of oak, good minerality and surprisingly nice acid to create balanced wines. Style is driven by oak and full maloactic treatment. The wines had loads of personality, but common elements reflecting winemaking style were dominant. Opinions of the group differed greatly, but clearly well made wines that have potential to age. Perhaps difficult to match will a broad array of foods, but went perfectly with the the roasted chicken. We discussed how we dislike Kistler's method of selling wine by almost forcing one to buy huge allocations to move up the curve for the pinots. Interesting how the Burgundy did not show as well compared to the Kistlers.
Closing
The group WOTN was the 1995 Vine Hill followed by 2002 Hudson. We hope to follow up this tasting with one focused on the pinots in the fall.
2000 Kistler Chardonnay McCrea Vineyard 92 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain
Sweet vanillia nose with rich creamy aromas
Ripe white fruits with nutmeg spice and butterscotch. Lush style with good minerality and long fruit dominated finish. A tasty treat.
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1999 Kistler Chardonnay McCrea Vineyard 91 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Mountain
Tight nose with elements of oak and lemon
On the palate,wonderful citrus flavors, fat and rich mouthfeel with racy underlying acidity. Well balanced with white stone fruits, minerals and nice vanilla finish. Very chablis like except for oak elements and warming quality.
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1995 Kistler Chardonnay Kistler Vineyard 89 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
Deep almost golden in color. Delicate nose of nuts, butterscotch and honey.
Palate was oily with toned down fruit and carmel edge. subtle sherry-like element with fat soft mouthfeel. Lacking a little in flavor intensity and showing some age. To me this bottle was likely better a few years ago, but still a quality wine.
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2000 Kistler Chardonnay Kistler Vineyard 88 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
Toasty nose with butterscotch and rich apple fruits.
Soft oaky apple flavors with nice baking spice edge on the finish. Started out slow, but builds nice intensity thru mid-palate and into finish. Balanced by good acid and essence of lemon. Still, relative to other Kistler's lacking a bit of complexity and richness.
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1994 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard 95 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Smoky, toasty nose with rich apple and butterscotch - yum!
Soft vanilla flavors with ripe Mackintosh apple fruit and sweet carmel. Layered dense fruit flavors making a hedonistic experience many may not appreciate. Finish is unusally long rich and complex for a California Chardonnay with 10 years of age. Likely will not improve, but can hold for some time.
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1995 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard 93 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Soft pear notes on the nose with some oak.
Well integrated flavors of white fruits and toast with nicely balancing acidity. A sleek elegant style with very long finish. Impressive wine.
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1999 Kistler Chardonnay Durell Vineyard 86 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Golden yellow.
Very nutty nose almost oxidized quality.
Somewhat flat apple fruit flavors with persistant nutty quality almost sherry-like. While still interesting, seems over the hill and likely a weak bottle due to faulty cork? Not a corked wine, but looks and tastes like a slightly hurt bottle.
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2000 Kistler Chardonnay Durell Vineyard 92 Points
USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast
Nice aromas of delicate white fruits and vanilla
Richly concentrated white pear fruit with nice oak elements. Well balanced with solid acids, but a bit angular needing time to integrate better and develop more compexity. Still all the raw materials are there and this will likely improve with time. Long finish if not a touch warm.
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2001 Kistler Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard 88 Points
USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros
Lemon and citrus with smoke on the nose.
Simple, but nice apple fruit and oak. Well balanced with good acidity. A young tasting wine with lovely rich finish. Got better with time, a good sign for the future.
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2002 Kistler Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard 92 Points
USA, California, Napa / Sonoma, Carneros
Baconfat and toast with touch of lemon on the nose - nice!
Great depth and complexity with nice concentration and balance. Long finish with oaky nuance. Beautiful white fruits with minerals and acid. Good chance it even improves from here.
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1998 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
Tropical fruit nose of peaches and apples.
Wonderful fresh clean juicy fruit flavors on the palate. Medium body with soft round character. A touch simple, but quite nice. Would like to have seen a bit more complexity,perhaps with time?
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