1995 Beringer Vineyards Chardonnay Private Reserve

Community Tasting Notes (17) Avg Score: 88.2 points

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  11/3/2020 - forceberry wrote: 94 Points

  13,5% alcohol.
  
  Deep and quite dark golden yellow. Sweetish and very complex nose with bold, layered aromas of honey, canned pineapple, some developed nutty tones, a little bit of browned butter, light honeydew melon tones, a hint of ripe cloudberry and a touch of caramel. Lovely! The wine is ripe, broad and oily on the palate with a full body and complex, somewhat sweet-toned flavors of exotic spices and chopped nuts, some baked apple, a little bit of toasty oak spice and understated nuances of old wood, light mineral notes of cool stones, developed hints of beeswax, browned butter and butterscotch and a touch of overripe nectarine. Lots of everything going on here. The acidity feels moderately high, i.e. not high enough to lend good freshness to such a rich wine, but high enough to keep the wine very nicely in balance. The finish is remarkably long and wonderfully complex with dry yet very ripe aftertaste of chopped nuts, exotic spices and marzipan, some tangy notes of salinity, a little bit of savory old wood, light bitter undertones, a hint of cooked cream and a touch of butterscotch.
  
  A beautiful, complex and wonderfully evolved Napa Chardonnay that is in a terrific shape right now. The wine doesn't feel young anymore, but neither does it feel as aged as it actually is; had this wine been served blind, I would've guessed closer to 15 years! The wine is lush, opulent and quite weighty, but it doesn't feel heavy nor flabby and both the nose and the taste offer tons of pleasure. This is a hedonistic Chardonnay, but only in the good way. It might be hard to find a suitable pairing for such an overwhelming wine, but seeing how beautifully the wine drinks on its own, I don't see this as much of a problem. All in all, a very lovely effort. I doubt the wine can continue to improve much or at all from here, but I don't suspect it will fall apart anytime soon either. Highly recommended.

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  1/24/2013 - G_H Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Classic aged cali chard. Buttered grilled corn, really nice !

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  6/28/2012 - ikkaariainen wrote: 84 Points

  2nd of 2 bottles actually surprisingly good - currently a very different wine from it's youth but still approachable and truly drinkable. Golden amber, clear, warm and well rounded, very soft and mellow. Airing in the glass made a big difference - this wine at this point really does need some air time. Nose warm, acidic and caramelly with notes of red apple and peach and primary flavors of burnt sugar and caramel / almost mocha. It is hard to recommend this wine at this point and any holdings certainly need to be drunk up but it is quite an interesting drinking experience.

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  6/28/2012 - ikkaariainen wrote: flawed

  1st of 2 bottles terribly corked.

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  12/31/2010 - mlawren1 wrote: 87 Points

  Brownish gold in the glass. Almost a hint of boystrist up front but then it opens up into a complex mix of butterscotch and caramel.

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