April 21, 2024 - Light medium gold color. Drank a glass over an hour. Same bottle as JCGuthrie. This did come off as a bit tired. Round, a little alcohol coming through, pear and peach notes witha little vanilla left. Drink up.
April 21, 2024 - Fifth of five. Perhaps not representative as there was a distracting pine pitch herbal flavor not present in prior bottles. Regardless, still very drinkable with ripe peach and vanilla notes.
December 27, 2023 - A big night with lots of wines so no official TN and good competition, but this was a big rich wine with lots of texture and flavors. I would have like a bit more acidity to give it a bit more verve. Maybe a little over prime but still a nice showing.
December 8, 2023 - PNP followed over the evening. Needed a couple of hours to blow off/fill out. Then what emerged was a beautiful, flavorful, but balanced wine. Lemon and citrus fruit, just a bit of honey in tue background, tart acidity, medium+ body, somewhat round and full in the mouth. 14.5% ABV. I’ve been drinking a lot of lean, laser focused Oregon Chardonnay recently and this was definitely California sun kissed, but it was in no way flabby or overdone. A fully ripe white wine that can be enjoyed by itself for its layered flavors. In a perfect place for me, but I think this has 5+ years easy.
September 21, 2023 - French and American Wine Tasting Dinner (USA): Double decanted around noon and taken to a tasting dinner. Served blind next to 2011 Antonin Guyon Corton Charlemagne to a group of 12. Classic Mount Eden. Nose takes some aeration to begin to reveal itself with layers of vanilla, lemon, florals and herbal hints. Palate is rich and textured with brights acidity, lemon curd and white peach. Finish is long and luxurious with hints of butterscotch and caramel. Perfectly mature but still going strong.
I thought this would be a tougher choice but the group was pretty much unanimous about which was which. The vast majority preferred the Guyon.
September 1, 2023 - Plenty of energy and some layers of notes but boy oh boy is oak pronounced and too overwhelming to my taste!
July 21, 2023 - An excellent chard with notes of crisp white fruit, lemon curd, honeysuckle. Well balanced with good acidity and medium finish.
May 6, 2023 - Not decanted, used Gabriel Glas machine-made stems. The first glass was served at passive cellar temp (roughly 55 F). The color was quite yellow and what I'd expect from a 12-year-old Cali Chard. Like in Buckeye's TN earlier, this was full of fruit and richness. It is showing its age to be sure, but it's not oxidized or going downhill. Yet. I don't get the acidic support needed to go a lot longer. This has tons of fruit still, but I think I'd drink these within the next 3 years. I'd expect better vintages to age longer than this one ultimately will.
February 17, 2023 - My goodness. Still a beautiful example of what a Santa Cruz chardonnay should be.
February 13, 2023 - Absolutely lovely. Dry with layers of test. Glad I sat on it.