May 13, 2014 - Medium-light golden bright yellow in color. Forward, attractive, developed and complex nose of rich, ripe fruit aromas of apples & pears, citrus notes of lemons/limes & grapefruit with smoky notes, floral notes of honeysuckle, some flintiness, wet stones, butterscotch, spices, minerals with a bit of vanilla in the background. Medium-full bodied with a good concentration of mature & developed, balanced, complex, smooth textured, rich, ripe flavors of green apples, grapefruit, lemons and limes with toasted oak, some butterscotch, spices, stony, minerals and a touch of creamy vanilla. Long lingering crisp finish. Drinks quite well at present and is at the peak of its development although it does have the structure to hold onto this current plateau for another year or two at most.
April 1, 2012 - San Diego WineSpectator.com Offline, 4/1/2012 (Avenue 5 Restaurant, San Diego, California): Clearly a cut above in terms of quality. Offering generous notes of cream, pear, lemon oil, and smoky buttery oak, with full body and no off notes. Typical of California chardonnays, this wine did not offer much in the way of terroir, minerality, or acidic structure. To find those qualities with any consistency, we must apparently still look to Burgundy.
June 27, 2011 - A significant floral profile on the nose, with oaky vanilla carrying through to flavors of pear, peach, orange and minerals. Relatively sweet with a long finish that turns a bit dry and tart.
October 13, 2010 - Another classy showing. A suggestion of sweetness at the start is turned voluptuously to a white-peppered high-toned complexity.
Retained real breadth and interest to the end.
July 23, 2010 - Pale, cool gold. Great chardonnay spectrum aromas on the nose, with a touch of orange peel and caramel, matched and enhanced on the broad palate with a buttery richness and slight viscosity. And then a balancing lightness and focus - a burgundian complexity which I'd not expected. Delicious.
May 19, 2009 - bottle was corked... too bad!
March 18, 2009 - always nice
December 20, 2008 - CRISP CITRUS FRUITS, APPLES, AND BURNT POPCORN IN THE NOSE WITH CITRUS AND APPLES IN THE FLAVOR. NICE COMPLEXITY AND A MEDIUM TO LONG FINISH.
December 13, 2008 - No formal notes taken. Drank at a Christmas Party. Solid Chard with good balance.
December 6, 2008 - I really like this wine.....with a wonderful QPR to boot!