January 19, 2024 - I haven’t had a bottle of this from a case acquired on release in 7-8 years. Wow! The aging has done wonders. The wine is a bright luminous lightly golden yellow. The nose has some roasted nuts, white florals, some distinct sea air salinity, and ripe peach. The palate is gorgeous and gets even better over a couple hours. It is mostly stone fruit, ripe pear and yellow apple fruited with just hints of creamy vanilla. It has a bright acid and mineral backbone and some lime zest on the finish. Great texture/mouthfeel. This bottle disappeared too quickly for my wife and I over some pan seared red snapper with my beurre blanc. Stunning!
January 17, 2024 - Just perfect. Golden, buttery, peach , apple
April 3, 2022 - Clear, golden hue. Pear, tropical, lychee, subtle notes of oak. Slight honey tangerine and apple. Evolves in the glass. Vibrant, well balanced and aging beautifully. Nice treat; especially given age out of CA.
December 30, 2021 - Wonderful magnum from Chateau Montelena. Hard to believe it is from 2008. Bright yellow color. Crisp, lemony, with hint of apple.
December 5, 2021 - Surprisingly very good. More like a Chablis But held up very well.
July 19, 2021 - Golden in color. Nose of orange, lemon, pear, oak, and grass. Second nose of earth, dried hay, and the other flavors open up. Dry on entry with flavors of green apple, lemon, hay. Slight tannins and a dry finish. Not a buttery or oaky Chardonnay.
April 16, 2021 - Friday Night Brown Bagger (EBCC): Golden color, clearly has a good bit of age. There’s some madeirization but underneath there are also pleasant mature nutty qualities as well as honeycomb and orchard fruit. This bottle is over the hill but not completely without charm; drinkable, if just barely.
November 29, 2020 - 12 years on the Chateau Montelena it’s aged well. Beautiful apple citrus hints of French oak and lightly buttery biscuit notes on the nose. Balanced on the palate with long integrated balanced oak spice and buttery apple honeysuckle finish.
July 22, 2020 - Sampled from a well-cellared bottle, this 12-year-old Chardonnay retains a nice core of citrus and green apple fruit, accented with notes of honeysuckle, wet stones and chervil. Medium-bodied, crisply acidic and without any heat from its 13.7% alcohol, it stays solid on the mid-palate and the oak component lurks quietly in the background. Medium-to-long on the back end, this is a delicious Chardonnay that has retained excellent freshness by virtue of precluding malolactic fermentation and avoidance of excessive wood. Drink now-2023.
April 14, 2020 - Interesting wine. Golden color. Opened up after about an hour. But still high acidity. Not sure if it was going to turn or if it was just high acidity. Bright lemon and citrus. Some cut green hay. But all in all pretty decent for 12 year old Napa chard. Drank with Rob Crandall on a STL Club zoom tasting for bottle shock. A propos. Cheers. Recommended.