2017 Three Sticks Chardonnay Alana

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 93.3 points

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  7/20/2023 - Charlie C Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Deep, vibrant gold color. Lemon oil and herbs on the intensely fragrant nose. Precise and lovely on the palate, limes, apples, hint of spicy oak. Great acidity and fabulous balance. Finishes long and spicy with apples and lemons. Brilliant effort, just lovely. Drink next 6 to 7 years.

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  3/19/2023 - Smerkow wrote: 93 Points

  perfect balance. loved it

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  1/24/2023 - Charlie C Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Light yellow-gold color. Muted aromas of lemon and spice. On the palate melons, lemons, bit of vanilla oak, spice. Apples on the mid-palate. Bright acidity, great balance. Finishes long, crisp and lemony. Bit heavier in texture than my last bottle 2 years ago. Still lovely. Drink next 2 to 3 years.

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  11/29/2020 - Charlie C Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Lovely nose of green apples. Palate has apples, lemon zest, pepper, bit of honey. Everything is finely delineated. Lemon becomes more prominent on mid-palate. Racy acidity and perfect balance. Finishes long and delicious with citrus notes. Elegant and lovely now and for another 5 years or more. Gets better the longer it sits in the glass.

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  12/20/2019 - Hi.its.Don.4.Wine Likes this wine: 94 Points

  I’m not sure why I buy wine!
  
  What a statement from a certified, or maybe that should be certifiable, wine snob. After all, I love buying wine, the hard part for me is always deciding WHAT to drink and when. There are times when I know the wine I’m buying is strictly to drink, gone in 60 seconds sort of thing. Then there are the wines that I buy that I want to put to rest, nestle them softly into their place and allow them to mature and age gracefully, something I continue to hope for in my own case.
  
  I struggle when confronted with the question: “what do I drink tonight.” So many choices (well, let’s just say enough) to choose from and then to try and pair the wines with my meals. This one versus that one, age versus age-ability, and the one that really gets me at times, my last or only bottle!
  
  That’s what faced me the other night as I was preparing my dinner. Having recently received a shipment from one of my favorite wineries, Three Sticks, I knew I wanted to open one of the wines I received from them to not only enjoy but to review the wine as it was one of their recent releases. “BUT IT’S BRAND SPANKING NEW!”
  
  I had to do it, no matter what. It’s my calling, my destiny to pop that cork and tell the world about the wine. Well, whoever will listen or read my post. So it’s done. One of those Three Sticks wine just made it onto my dinner table for the evening. Then it hits me once again, “but which one!” I have both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay looking back at me saying “drink me.”
  
  Having planned the evening’s menu around a healthy (as in healthy not big) serving of Salmon, alongside some roasted Cauliflower topped off with my version of Tzatziki this could go either way. Starting my research early in the afternoon so as not to wait till the last minute, I scoured over the tech notes and looked for any reviews about the wines I could find.
  
  Being recently released there wasn’t much. Last-ditch effort, I picked up each bottle with the hope that maybe one of them would talk to me and tell me to “pick me!” Success! On the back of this particular bottle read: “Named for our youngest daughter, this Estate Vineyard is small and extremely precious.” That did it. Daughter, Precious, it was as if it was speaking directly to me, reminding me of my own daughter, although this is written on the 2,000 some odd bottles produced. It didn’t matter. THIS was tonight’s wine!
  
  From less than 6 acres, this cool climate Chardonnay, named after Bill Price’s youngest daughter, and only the second vintage, is nestled in the middle of a majestic redwood forest in Sebastopol. Picked later in the season, the grapes are allowed to develop concentration which is evident in the wine itself. Aged for 15 months in 100% French Oak with 29% being new, the wine grows even more.
  
  Oh, the wine…..
  
  A nutty and honeyed aroma beckoned me to partake even before the meal was completely ready. I couldn’t resist. Adding those same notes towards the palate, a sense of stone fruit shines through adding body and depth to the wine, continuing along with crisp acidity leading to a long and satisfying finish. I knew I had made the right choice for the evening; another extraordinary wine from Three Sticks and their winemaker Bob Cabral.
  
  With less than 2,000 bottles produced, it may be difficult to obtain, but a call to the winery might yield positive results. It would be worth the call.
  
  Oh, I guess I should fill in the part about how the wine went with the Salmon. Marvelous darlin’.
  
  Cheers
  
  P.S. - This same wine led to my EBS, stay tuned to my post on Wednesday to find out about this Perilous Plight!

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