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Expressive Chardonnays
August 28, 2024
Winemakers call Chardonnay a transparent grape: It can show the effects of soil, weather, climate, the grower, and the winemaker. This week, chardonnays from diverse locations . . .
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This Week Wed, August 28, 2024 Expressive Chardonnays In-store, 5 - 6:30pm
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Winemakers call Chardonnay a transparent grape: It can show the effects of soil, weather, climate, the grower, and the winemaker. This week, chardonnays from diverse locations where winemakers work them with a lighter hand, leaving them to express their origins. They are in a style more tuned to modern taste for lighter, more lithe wines.
At moderate prices, these are the best, most expressive, and deftly realized that we have tasted. No mass production today. All come from small craft producers or estates.
France
2022 Charly Nicolle Petit Chablis
Petit Chablis is a broad expanse around the town of Chablis. In many wines, the resemblance to Chablis is rather wishful. Not so this one. Village Chablis vineyards surround Charly Nicolle's parcel; it has some inimitable Chablis chalk.
Aroma: lemony and spicy, fresh, steely, bright, intense; Mouth: rounded lemon accent, fleshy, fat, bright, and fresh. Very long, clean, vibrant; Very Good Plus $29.99; Case, $25.49
2021 Maison Matisco Vire-Clesse
The limestone soils of Vire and Clesse were recognized as more distinctive than most Macon wines. Twenty-five years ago, they became the first appellation promoted to join Pouilly Fuisse and St. Veran as a recognized commune. There native brothers, Richard and Stéphane Martin, make Vire-Clesse with a lilt and savor that makes it inviting on the palate and invites a second sip. This wine has heft with bracing food-friendly acidity, surrounded by generous fruit.
Aroma: deep rather full, more richness than their other offerings; Mouth: deep, full plummy, nice balance, full and long; Very Good Plus $25.99; Case, $21.99
2020 Domaine Philippe Vandelle Etoile Chardonnay
In a warming world, the Jura mountains near Switzerland are birthing wines that are sparer and more mineral than Burgundy. With a short time in oak barrels, the Etoile Chardonnay has a floral aroma, brioche, and salinity, like a focused Chablis, but with a different, flintier mineral.
Aroma: light, pretty, fresh, elegant with light stone granite, very fresh and clean, mineral; Mouth: fresh and ripe, fullish, fat in the mouth, but nicely dry and mineral, firm, taut finish; Very Good - Excellent $28.99; Case, $24.99
New World
2022 Devils Corner Chardonnay, Tasmania
Australia's island state is a new frontier for chardonnay and pinot noir. It has a cool climate, and like South Africa's Walker Bay faces the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, which gives it a cool climate and crisper wines
; Aroma: nutty dusty, fruity, fleshy and forward, very ripe pear; Mouth: clean, firm, fruity, pretty nice, good acidity; Very Good - Excellent $23.99; Case, $19.99
2019 St. Innocent Chardonnay Freedom Hill, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Willamette Valley's St. Innocent has been a favorite here for its clean, food-friendly acidity, fine minerality, and soft texture. The wood treatment is delicate and lets the fine fruit shine through. Pretty and plush.
; Aroma: heady and lean, very light, pretty sweet, mineral, intense, light oak accent, crisp and forward; Very Good - Excellent $32; Case, $26.99
2023 Diatom Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills, California
Greg Brewer has gained fame as Brewer Clifton's winemaker. He pioneered California's Central Coast regions of Santa Rita Hills and Santa Barbara, which have become some of the best of the newer, sleeker, more food-friendly California Chardonnay style: no oak but mouth-filling fruit with a bracing acidity to make it a great partner for seafood.
; Aroma: heady and rich, very full, fat and intense, a light pungent papaya note; Mouth: papaya pineapple, richly textured, lemon very clean, fat, full, long, a saline lemon note on the finish; Very Good - Excellent $24.99; Case, $21.99
8-28 Chardonnay Case Special, two each of the wines - $285
Or make your own, any twelve bottles at their case prices
And a bonus…
2019 Domaine Roy Meursault 1er Cru les Plures
Bargains on Premier Cru Meursault, Chassagne, and Puligny do not exist today. Nonetheless, here's one from a family in off the beaten path Auxey. Most critics omit it. It stood out to us in a mass Burgundy tasting for value in its traditional wood-inflected richness. Drink now.
Aroma: Rather oaky, very rich old style, smooth, rich, and spicy; Mouth: Rich firm, oak influence, fat. Heady full; Excellent Was $120, Now $85 Net, two cases only
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- Len Rothenberg
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