2018 Luna Vineyards Chardonnay Winemaker's Reserve

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 90.3 points

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  3/26/2022 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 90 Points

  One off ($22.99) from the big box wine store 6-9 months ago. On the nose and palate, relatively restrained notes of apples, pears, jasmine, river rocks, and yeast, all given nice focus and frame by lemon-lime zest. Light to medium gold, medium bodied, medium legs. Medium- acidity, no heat. Good complexity and intensity, moderate persistence. I needed some wine to pour into my scampi, and as one of the lesser priced whites and, from the notes, not one with intense vanilla, oak or butter, this met the test (it was good in the dish), but since that still left the remaining 3/4s of the bottle, I had a chance to consider this on its own. Perfectly balanced, refreshing and tilting a bit closer to a Chablis than a typical Napa chard, this wine meets my spec with a bit to spare at this price point of a food-friendly (both in and with the food) wine which also works well on its own. I opened it after a tasting at Montelena, whose chard was still rattling around, metaphorically if not actually, on my palate as I initially tasted this, and while Montelena was a bit more elegant and lifted, at +/- 2-3x the price of this, I’m not sure the differential seemed worth it to me. While this wine is just below quality-wise the slightly cheaper Saintsbury Sangiacomo, which was $4 less, and further behind any number of other chards from the mid $20s to mid $30s I’ve reviewed in the last year or so, it’s still a more than respectable showing, even if Jeb’s 95 and Decanter’s 94 seem borderline delusional (I’d also note that, per the initial reviewer, while I’ve not had Konsgaard at all or Shafer’s chard for some time, I semi-regularly drink the Far Niente, which I’d rate a few points higher than this in the vintages I’ve sampled). I’d expect that this is close to this wine’s high water mark, but I’d also expect it to hold this level for 3-5 years. Very solid with said scampi and crab Mac & cheese. 89-90+

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  5/22/2021 - bilgepump100 wrote: 90 Points

  Lemon pith, eucalyptus, stones, ginger. Great texture. Long finish.

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  3/6/2021 - PortFanatic wrote: 91 Points

  This was a nice surprise. A very interesting wine for the money.

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  1/7/2021 - Westgate Wine Store wrote:

  If you love the full-blown (yet still perfectly balanced) style of Napa Valley Chardonnay producers like Kongsgaard or even Far Niente and Shafer produce, but don’t want to pay their prices, look no further.

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