1992 Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay Alexander Valley

Community Tasting Notes (4) Median Score: 89 points

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  10/1/2022 - forceberry wrote: 90 Points

  13% alcohol. Tasted blind.
  
  Quite deep and moderately concentrated golden-yellow color with an amber core. The nose feels evolved, but not as much as one would anticipate from the aged appearance - there are complex aromas of caramel and butterscotch, some bruised apple tones, a little bit of oxidative nuttiness, light smoky tones, a curious hint of beeswax or honeycomb and a touch of cooked cream. The wine feels dry, evolved and rather toasty on the palate with a full body and flavors of caramel and butterscotch, some oxidative nutty notes, a little bit of buttered graham toast, light bruised apple tones, sweet hints of honey and lemon marmalade and a touch of dried pineapple. The medium acidity keeps the wine in balance, but the overall feel is still a bit on the broad and heavy side of things. The finish is long and toasty with flavors of caramel, some bruised apple, a little bit of browned butter, light oxidative nuances of chopped nuts, a hint of toasted bread and a touch of dried pineapple.
  
  This was a quite lovely effort - very aged and starting to show some oxidative qualities, but still not ponderous or too heavy. Unlike previous bottle we tasted a year ago, this wasn't as "aged Riesling-like" in character - despite its slightly honeyed and lemon marmaladey-like nuances - as several people went to aged Chardonnay quite immediately and to California not much later. I'd say this bottle was in a slightly better shape than the one we had before, but they both were in a great shape for their age; definitely not too old - which really surprised me. Nevertheless, as I've said in my previous TN, despite its lovely tertiary qualities I don't think this wine still manages to reach true greatness. It's an enjoyable old Cali Chardonnay, but nothing more beyond that.

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  11/27/2021 - forceberry wrote: 89 Points

  13% alcohol. Tasted blind.
  
  Deep, concentrated golden yellow color. Ripe, sweet and quite concentrated nose with aromas of honey, some honey-and-oats bar, a little bit of Auslese-like lemon marmalade and beeswax, light creamy notes, a hint of oxidative caramel character and a touch of smoke. The wine is evolved, full-bodied and oily on the palate with complex, dry flavors of caramel, oxidative nuttiness, some dried apricot tones, a little bit of savory wood spice, light nuances of browned butter, a hint of pineapple and a sweet touch of dried tropical fruits. The acidity feels rather modest, making the wine come across as rather broad and heavy. The finish is round, evolved and somewhat oily with quite long tertiary flavors of bruised apple, some dried pineapple, light nutty oxidative tones, a little bit of cooked cream, a hint of honeyed richness and a mushroomy touch of chanterelle.
  
  A rich, very evolved and a bit ponderous Cali Chardonnay that has a remarkably Auslese-like nose (many people guessed older Riesling before tasting the wine) and a bit too little acidity to carry itself with grace. The wine shows wonderful sense of depth and complexity both in the nose and in the taste, but on the palate the wine falls a bit short due to its modest acidity, which makes the mouthfeel rather dull, soft and lacking precision. It's surprising how remarkably well a wine this low in acidity has survived - at almost 30 years of age this is still fully enjoyable and delivering everything one could expect from an aged Chardonnay - except for freshness and structure. This is a good wine, but despite its lovely tertiary qualities, it doesn't manage to reach true greatness, unfortunately.

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  1/17/2010 - KimberlyDo wrote: 74 Points

  Sherry like in appearance with a sherry like nose and still complex but oxidized flavors on thee palate.

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  6/12/2006 - Bunky wrote:

  Nothing Special

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