Drank this wine with butternut squash and apple soup. Oh my, I love that this wine is balanced with all the flavor you want in a great chard. I feel this will age well and improve. One of Melka's more restrained chards and it's a style I prefer over the acid bombs he can put out. Grab this one with confidence, you are in for a treat.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Hanging out on a Friday night (Richmond district): Aromas of abundant dark yellow fruits, bitter deep hay, big stones, and dark prickly pineapples flesh. Dark on the nose, like a sketchy alleyway.
On the palate are deep yellow fruits, pineapple rind, bitter minerals and a quiet acidity.
Maybe going into a phase soon as the bright and fresh acidity was more shy and quiet. The vibrancy and exciting energy finally surfaced with some time, better late than never I guess! Air these out a bit if they're performing a little sluggish and also serve at a cooler temp.
Nose: [48°] Fresh and ripe prickly pear, lively crushed yellow fruits, pleasant dried coastal rocks and clean fresh grass further away from the coast. [56°] Yellow fruits turn deeper, if it weren't for the acidity, it would be heavier. Also a subtle note of toast (if toasted bread could be fresh made but somehow served cool immediately).
Palate: [49°] Fresh pineapple flesh with a touch of tartness, clean streak of slightly bitter minerality and a bit of ocean salinity. [62°] Similar ripe yellow fruits from the nose as it comes closer to room temp but with a bit more weight. However, it stays buoyant and lifted from the good acidity. Sun dried oak with a bit of spice on the finish.
Attributes: Clear deep straw color. Dry with low amounts of supple tannin. Medium body (tough call) with medium-plus to high acidity. Good finish of at about 15-16 seconds.
Thoughts: Delivers excellent flavors while staying dangerously refreshing. One of those wines that makes you keep coming back for more, sip after sip. It comes down to preference but for those who do not like lots of acidity, this may not be your cup of tea. I find this amount of acidity almost necessary to really showcase the flavors. Told myself to not touch these for another year at least but boy will it be hard not to. Must keep at least two to see what 8-10 years of age can do to these. 98-99
Other notes: Burgundy glass. Poured one glass, left bottle (bottle itself acts as a decanter) at a cooler cellar temp ~45° for the duration of consumption of approximately 3.5+ hours. Recommend serving ~46°-50° and constantly chilled. Decant only if needed.
Don't worry, I speak Burgundy: A top-shelf Puligny-Montrachet that face-plants into a fresh patch of blooming Iberean white oleanders while sucking on an acid popsicle of fresh squeezed lemon juice and fossilized trilobites, the 2018 Vice Versa Chardonnay is a dead ringer for a purified P-M, but for the added bump in intensity and weight. So, the girls at École Polytechnique (Collège) must have found this Poindexter to be in need of some virility, so it swung by Chassagne to girth up, hit the Gym de L'Or (that's "Gold's Gym" for the uninitiated), and worked on its show-me muscles to better fill in its acid academics and chalkboard solidity. "Hear me now and believe me later any flabby vanilla doughboy Chardonnay, the Platt is here to rocket-up amazing Rambo pumpitude into your gooey piggy brain." A spritely la dame débonnaire that can also huck a javelin a half-mile (sorry, I mean, 805 meters), the '18 Platt marries the complex and purified profile of Puligny with the stronger and more overt push of flavor that its Chassagne neighbor to the west often possesses... and its FAR neighbor to the west (nord Californie) can even more often overdo. However, here the Platt balances amplitude with profundity. Magnifique!
Don't worry, I speak California: Lemon juice and chalky rocks make for a firm and popping frame buzzing around strong scents and flavors of yellow citrus, white peach, white flowers, and fresh hay. It's tense and nervy like a nuclear arms race, has the fortitude of a Ford F-750, and all the while carries a chiseled-and-luscious balance that allows for a decent amount of flesh and flavor, kinda like pounding your fist into a pillow. If you think Butter Chardonnay is actually a wine and not a stable solid, then best you walk far away from the Platt. But if you actually want to know what a California Chardonnay is supposed to taste like without the additives of fat emulsion margarine, this is your long-awaited palate reprieve. Awesomesauce!
98-99+ points. This shares similarities to the 2017, with perhaps a touch more acidity. A speedier version in its current state compared to the 2017. Worth holding another year or so to see what complexities are within the walls of invigorating energy spinning this wine into stardom.
Napa 2021 Trip; 5/10/2021-5/13/2021 (Napa Valley, CA): Possibly the best white wine I have tasted in my short wine drinking career. This was a great wine to drink as we sat on Patrice and Samantha's porch, about to dive into their killer red wine lineup.
I can't pretend to be as elegant as csimm or wbw - but make no joke about it, this is a wine that can make me a chard drinker. Just effortlessly lifts across all the senses, makes you want to smell it all day, uniquely pale yellow straw color. Brioche toast, yellow citrus, melon, strong acidic backbone. Well done.
Melon, banana chips & oak that consumes the wine with air. The acid is so incredibly sour and sticky it comes across as artificial, like a lemonhead candy. Very disjointed and expensive.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Nose: [58°] Amazing fruit, what I imagine is fruit with deep yellow flesh, maybe a ripe pear with its skin still on and its pit, deep pineapple, a bit of the mini toasted breads, fresh clean grass, some dried soil and maybe some dried straw. There's a bit of cream or possibly even some white chocolate in the glass. Clean, dried minerals are also here but seem to disappear into the fruits as it comes to room temp.
Palate: [58°] It's so difficult to describe the fruit here but whatever you get from the nose reflects beautifully on the palate. Great acidity that provides this cut through whatever might be perceived as heavy or thick with amazing tension and energy. A pleasant finish of bitter grass, a soft prickly spice, bitter hay and minerals with a bit of salinity.
Attributes: Clear deep medium straw color. Dry with little to no tannin. Medium to full body with medium to medium-plus acidity. Good finish of at least 16-18 seconds.
Thoughts: Tasty. Can easily say this is my favorite Chardonnay. Great energy, lots of fruit, great mouthfeel of dense goodness but with great acidity to keep it lively. The difference for me in this Chardonnay vs others is the liveliness and energy it brings on the palate compared to the other ones I've had. Hard to take my time on this one, constantly kept going back for more.
Other notes: Burgundy glass. Poured one glass, left bottle at cellar temp ~55° to slow-ox for the duration of consumption of approximately 3.5 hours - rinse and repeat. Recommend enjoying at cellar through room temp, it was a pleasant journey with every glass.
PnP - this wine was excellent as is. I can imagine it will only get better with more time in the bottle, but it was delicious and ready to enjoy already. Beautiful light gold wine, with citrus notes and some peach flavor, with a little white flowers, vanilla undertone, barely noticeable. On the palate, medium-to-full body, with exquisite acidity, very refreshing which will make this wine last for years, and more citrusy and peach flavors with a great lengthy finish. 97
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Excellent as others as others have said. My personal preference is for something with a bit more viscous character but the acid in the wines keeps everything in balance.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Nose: [58°] Green apple skin, pear flesh, clean grass, dried pineapple flesh and savory minerals like rocks on an ocean shore. Kinda surprising to find a bit of soft earth on the nose here as well. [56°] With some time, a bit of pure light honey appears on the nose. I may be reaching here but there seems to be some sort of lightly toasted bread (something like a soft yeast-y note).
Palate: [59°] Ripe fruit like pear mixed with a really light touch of a grapefruit with its pleasant bitterness, similar dried pineapple flesh from the nose, lemon rind, and similar notes of savory minerals from the nose.
Attributes: Clear medium yellow. Dry with no noticeable tannin. Medium-plus body with medium to medium-plus acidity (very well integrated). Good finish of at least 16-18 seconds.
Thoughts: This is very close to what I imagined as really good Chardonnay (for me). I never had much and was looking for one to satisfy my picky ass and this one hits all the spots for me. This isn't exactly balanced but I mean that in a way as in the things I don't really enjoy much (like the bitterness for example) is dialed down some where it is still enjoyable and adds depth. The way the acidity works here is amazing, this feels heavy on the mouth but at the same time very agile. Take this following note with a tub of Morton salt but something in this gives it a pleasant nose and texture like yogurt (in a good way). Great flavors here and just so enjoyable, very drinkable with great depth.
Other notes: Burgundy glass. Slow-ox'ed in bottle for the duration of consumption over 1.5 hours, probably don't need to decant but try to keep at cellar temp when serving. This is just as a good as it gets to room temperature but I believe this shines more at a cooler serving temp.
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Vice Versa Wines - Mostly 2018 with a few others: Fabulous wine. White flowers, citrus, pear and wet rocks predominate the nose. Stunningly fresh and pure, it shows beautiful full fruit and vivacity, just exploding with flavor. Lively and energetic, this is at once powerful and lithe. The mid palate is full of depth and the flavors hit every corner of the mouth. Finish is long and sophisticated with a nice mineral streak. Showing more fruit than the 2017 edition, but still spans the line beautifully between Burgundy and California's best.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
11/14/2023 - Jhalpern27 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve had this. I really love their Chardonnay and Pinot, So burgundy-esq. This was drinking especially well tonight.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/25/2023 - Wine Warrior 1 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drank this wine with butternut squash and apple soup. Oh my, I love that this wine is balanced with all the flavor you want in a great chard. I feel this will age well and improve. One of Melka's more restrained chards and it's a style I prefer over the acid bombs he can put out. Grab this one with confidence, you are in for a treat.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/4/2023 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 96 Points
Hanging out on a Friday night (Richmond district): Aromas of abundant dark yellow fruits, bitter deep hay, big stones, and dark prickly pineapples flesh. Dark on the nose, like a sketchy alleyway.
On the palate are deep yellow fruits, pineapple rind, bitter minerals and a quiet acidity.
Maybe going into a phase soon as the bright and fresh acidity was more shy and quiet. The vibrancy and exciting energy finally surfaced with some time, better late than never I guess! Air these out a bit if they're performing a little sluggish and also serve at a cooler temp.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comments (2)
10/1/2022 - AaronMaxwell Likes this wine: 96 Points
Enjoyed at The Shota. Really the perfect non-champagne sushi pairing.
At first, a ton of tart citrus, but then opening up into more balanced fruit and salinity with a very long finish.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2/15/2022 - gymnastpro Likes this wine: 96 Points
No specific notes. But the acidity and structure of the wine is outstanding. One of the best chards I’ve ever had. The bottle went too quickly!
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/31/2021 - jeffmudd Likes this wine: 96 Points
A bit early, but still my favorite American Chardonnay, very Burgundian in style.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/28/2021 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 99 Points
Nose: [48°] Fresh and ripe prickly pear, lively crushed yellow fruits, pleasant dried coastal rocks and clean fresh grass further away from the coast. [56°] Yellow fruits turn deeper, if it weren't for the acidity, it would be heavier. Also a subtle note of toast (if toasted bread could be fresh made but somehow served cool immediately).
Palate: [49°] Fresh pineapple flesh with a touch of tartness, clean streak of slightly bitter minerality and a bit of ocean salinity. [62°] Similar ripe yellow fruits from the nose as it comes closer to room temp but with a bit more weight. However, it stays buoyant and lifted from the good acidity. Sun dried oak with a bit of spice on the finish.
Attributes: Clear deep straw color. Dry with low amounts of supple tannin. Medium body (tough call) with medium-plus to high acidity. Good finish of at about 15-16 seconds.
Thoughts: Delivers excellent flavors while staying dangerously refreshing. One of those wines that makes you keep coming back for more, sip after sip. It comes down to preference but for those who do not like lots of acidity, this may not be your cup of tea. I find this amount of acidity almost necessary to really showcase the flavors. Told myself to not touch these for another year at least but boy will it be hard not to. Must keep at least two to see what 8-10 years of age can do to these. 98-99
Other notes: Burgundy glass. Poured one glass, left bottle (bottle itself acts as a decanter) at a cooler cellar temp ~45° for the duration of consumption of approximately 3.5+ hours. Recommend serving ~46°-50° and constantly chilled. Decant only if needed.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (3)
5/16/2021 - csimm wrote: 99 Points
Don't worry, I speak Burgundy: A top-shelf Puligny-Montrachet that face-plants into a fresh patch of blooming Iberean white oleanders while sucking on an acid popsicle of fresh squeezed lemon juice and fossilized trilobites, the 2018 Vice Versa Chardonnay is a dead ringer for a purified P-M, but for the added bump in intensity and weight. So, the girls at École Polytechnique (Collège) must have found this Poindexter to be in need of some virility, so it swung by Chassagne to girth up, hit the Gym de L'Or (that's "Gold's Gym" for the uninitiated), and worked on its show-me muscles to better fill in its acid academics and chalkboard solidity. "Hear me now and believe me later any flabby vanilla doughboy Chardonnay, the Platt is here to rocket-up amazing Rambo pumpitude into your gooey piggy brain." A spritely la dame débonnaire that can also huck a javelin a half-mile (sorry, I mean, 805 meters), the '18 Platt marries the complex and purified profile of Puligny with the stronger and more overt push of flavor that its Chassagne neighbor to the west often possesses... and its FAR neighbor to the west (nord Californie) can even more often overdo. However, here the Platt balances amplitude with profundity. Magnifique!
Don't worry, I speak California: Lemon juice and chalky rocks make for a firm and popping frame buzzing around strong scents and flavors of yellow citrus, white peach, white flowers, and fresh hay. It's tense and nervy like a nuclear arms race, has the fortitude of a Ford F-750, and all the while carries a chiseled-and-luscious balance that allows for a decent amount of flesh and flavor, kinda like pounding your fist into a pillow. If you think Butter Chardonnay is actually a wine and not a stable solid, then best you walk far away from the Platt. But if you actually want to know what a California Chardonnay is supposed to taste like without the additives of fat emulsion margarine, this is your long-awaited palate reprieve. Awesomesauce!
98-99+ points. This shares similarities to the 2017, with perhaps a touch more acidity. A speedier version in its current state compared to the 2017. Worth holding another year or so to see what complexities are within the walls of invigorating energy spinning this wine into stardom.
5 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (10)
5/12/2021 - sean7711 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Napa 2021 Trip; 5/10/2021-5/13/2021 (Napa Valley, CA): Possibly the best white wine I have tasted in my short wine drinking career. This was a great wine to drink as we sat on Patrice and Samantha's porch, about to dive into their killer red wine lineup.
I can't pretend to be as elegant as csimm or wbw - but make no joke about it, this is a wine that can make me a chard drinker. Just effortlessly lifts across all the senses, makes you want to smell it all day, uniquely pale yellow straw color. Brioche toast, yellow citrus, melon, strong acidic backbone. Well done.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (1)
4/11/2021 - DangerMouse81 Does not like this wine: 85 Points
Melon, banana chips & oak that consumes the wine with air. The acid is so incredibly sour and sticky it comes across as artificial, like a lemonhead candy. Very disjointed and expensive.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/2/2021 - AaronMaxwell Likes this wine: 96 Points
WINEBURROWINGWOMBAT nailed it. Absolutely delicious. Sad I only have one bottle left! Has the potential to age very well.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2/19/2021 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 98 Points
Nose: [58°] Amazing fruit, what I imagine is fruit with deep yellow flesh, maybe a ripe pear with its skin still on and its pit, deep pineapple, a bit of the mini toasted breads, fresh clean grass, some dried soil and maybe some dried straw. There's a bit of cream or possibly even some white chocolate in the glass. Clean, dried minerals are also here but seem to disappear into the fruits as it comes to room temp.
Palate: [58°] It's so difficult to describe the fruit here but whatever you get from the nose reflects beautifully on the palate. Great acidity that provides this cut through whatever might be perceived as heavy or thick with amazing tension and energy. A pleasant finish of bitter grass, a soft prickly spice, bitter hay and minerals with a bit of salinity.
Attributes: Clear deep medium straw color. Dry with little to no tannin. Medium to full body with medium to medium-plus acidity. Good finish of at least 16-18 seconds.
Thoughts: Tasty. Can easily say this is my favorite Chardonnay. Great energy, lots of fruit, great mouthfeel of dense goodness but with great acidity to keep it lively. The difference for me in this Chardonnay vs others is the liveliness and energy it brings on the palate compared to the other ones I've had. Hard to take my time on this one, constantly kept going back for more.
Other notes: Burgundy glass. Poured one glass, left bottle at cellar temp ~55° to slow-ox for the duration of consumption of approximately 3.5 hours - rinse and repeat. Recommend enjoying at cellar through room temp, it was a pleasant journey with every glass.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (3)
1/31/2021 - jeffmudd wrote: 98 Points
Ate with first Dungeness of the year, what an amazing combination. Simply a beautiful wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/19/2021 - Raflores86 Likes this wine: 97 Points
PnP - this wine was excellent as is. I can imagine it will only get better with more time in the bottle, but it was delicious and ready to enjoy already. Beautiful light gold wine, with citrus notes and some peach flavor, with a little white flowers, vanilla undertone, barely noticeable. On the palate, medium-to-full body, with exquisite acidity, very refreshing which will make this wine last for years, and more citrusy and peach flavors with a great lengthy finish. 97
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
12/26/2020 - jeffmudd wrote: 96 Points
Hated to drink early, still a bit of a baby and give it another 12-24 months and I will be adding a couple of points.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/24/2020 - eschuldt wrote: 97 Points
Excellent as others as others have said. My personal preference is for something with a bit more viscous character but the acid in the wines keeps everything in balance.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/8/2020 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 98 Points
Nose: [58°] Green apple skin, pear flesh, clean grass, dried pineapple flesh and savory minerals like rocks on an ocean shore. Kinda surprising to find a bit of soft earth on the nose here as well. [56°] With some time, a bit of pure light honey appears on the nose. I may be reaching here but there seems to be some sort of lightly toasted bread (something like a soft yeast-y note).
Palate: [59°] Ripe fruit like pear mixed with a really light touch of a grapefruit with its pleasant bitterness, similar dried pineapple flesh from the nose, lemon rind, and similar notes of savory minerals from the nose.
Attributes: Clear medium yellow. Dry with no noticeable tannin. Medium-plus body with medium to medium-plus acidity (very well integrated). Good finish of at least 16-18 seconds.
Thoughts: This is very close to what I imagined as really good Chardonnay (for me). I never had much and was looking for one to satisfy my picky ass and this one hits all the spots for me. This isn't exactly balanced but I mean that in a way as in the things I don't really enjoy much (like the bitterness for example) is dialed down some where it is still enjoyable and adds depth. The way the acidity works here is amazing, this feels heavy on the mouth but at the same time very agile. Take this following note with a tub of Morton salt but something in this gives it a pleasant nose and texture like yogurt (in a good way). Great flavors here and just so enjoyable, very drinkable with great depth.
Other notes: Burgundy glass. Slow-ox'ed in bottle for the duration of consumption over 1.5 hours, probably don't need to decant but try to keep at cellar temp when serving. This is just as a good as it gets to room temperature but I believe this shines more at a cooler serving temp.
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
8/1/2020 - Cristal2000 Likes this wine: 97 Points
Vice Versa Wines - Mostly 2018 with a few others: Fabulous wine. White flowers, citrus, pear and wet rocks predominate the nose. Stunningly fresh and pure, it shows beautiful full fruit and vivacity, just exploding with flavor. Lively and energetic, this is at once powerful and lithe. The mid palate is full of depth and the flavors hit every corner of the mouth. Finish is long and sophisticated with a nice mineral streak. Showing more fruit than the 2017 edition, but still spans the line beautifully between Burgundy and California's best.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment