Community Tasting Note

edwilley3 Likes this wine:

Friday, May 16, 2014 - Consumed at dinner after opening around lunch. Big fragrance out of the bottle as soon as the cork popped out and with air the nose just got bigger. Citrusy notes dominated and the fully decanted nose was lovely with a heady citrus blossom perfume that I don't expect at this price. Oak is evident but the intense fruit and floral notes balance it such that it's not heavy handed. On the palate, this is not as seamless as the best Brewer-Clifton or, say, Martinelli, but it's still a pretty big wine that coats different parts of the mouth and has a medium-long finish. As to the alcohol, I asked my dinner companion what the ABV was and her response was 13.5%. So, yeah, it doesn't taste hot if you give it a chance to open. The bottle I had anyway was far from tired and the acid level made me think it had years to go. Right now I would say it's a flexible chardonnay that can satisfy a California freak like me (my favorite chards are from Peter Michael and Marcassin), lend support to dinner (a juicy herb roasted chicken expertly prepared by my friend), or stand alone as a refreshing but succulent aperitif. If you don't like the 2008 B-C chards, feel free to give your bottles to me. This is not as good as the 2008 Sweeney Canyon bottling (96 pts personal rating), but it's still good. In my view, this wine is extremely well made, showing many elements I look for in a big league chard. The difference I think is that the grapes weren't quite locked in at full ripeness. Close, but not quite.

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