Community Tasting Note
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flyinburrito Likes this wine:
May 23, 2014 - Light, pale gold. Nose dominates with scents of expensive, sweet vanilla tinged oak. Along the lines of a Beringer Private Reserve. Some bright citrus lurks in the background. There is certainly high quality fruit here and no doubt a great winemaking team behind this bottling. My own selfish wish; JUST LET THE FRUIT SHINE. After leaving the bottle open for a while, a strong sense of minerality in the fruit appeared. Unfortunately it was tinged with that sweet vanilla oak, albeit not as prominent as on the nose earlier. I would love, absolutely love to see a producer take this fruit and do a Chablis, Louis Michel interpretation as I have no doubt it would be absolutely wonderful!
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2 Comments
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liteagilis commented:
4/25/18, 4:33 PM - Then why wouldnt you just buy Chablis? I own like 1800 bottles of wine, and only about 10 of them are CA Chardonnay (about 4 times that amount are Chablis). It's clearly not 'my style' but I don't understand why people want to make something out of something that isnt there. Chablis is cool/cold and often grey. Carneros is none of those things. The dirt in Carneros is rich and often red. In Chablis it's white and full of fossils. If you like fruity white wines that are very crisp, maybe think about buying some grosses gewachs riesling. If it must be Chardonnay and from California there are a few producers that make Stainless-Only wines or Neutral-Only wines. I'd try Brewer Clifton/Diatom (although they fairly recently sold out so maybe buy pre-2014)
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flyinburrito commented:
4/25/18, 5:27 PM - Appreciate the comment. I have a ton of Chablis. The limestone soils are definitely a trip to see in person. The soils in the Cote de Beaune where Chardonnay also shines are also red, similar to Carneros, particularly on the hill of Corton but those whites rarely show the oak. I enjoy the reductive character of white Burgs but the oak is almost never front and center. All I was trying to get across was that the Hudson vineyard clearly has a streak of minerality that I think would shine through much clearer if the oak was dialed down a bit. I love Chardonnay aged in oak barrels but the best examples don't necessarily flaunt that. I dig BC too. Was in Santa Barbara in November and had a good tasting at Hilliard Bruce where Greg Brewer is making some tasty wines. Even in Chablis, I love both styles; the Louis Michel all stainless and the houses that use oak like William Fevre and Pinson.