Browse Tag

chardonnay

Terres it up

JP Brun “Terres Dorées” 2007 Beaujolais Blanc Chardonnay (Beaujolais) – Stone fruit with heat and shortness; I suspect some damage somewhere along the way. (5/10)

In the Corsin human events

Corsin 2006 Saint-Véran “Tirage Précoce” (Burgundy) – Golden fruit lightened by air. Supple and relatively simple, despite a little trailing edge of spice. Good structure. Drinkable. (5/10)

Digital Mystikz

de Morgenzon “DMZ” 2008 Chardonnay (South Africa) – Sticky vinyl, soupy imitation butterscotch, bleary-eyed booziness. Awful. (4/10)

Gofeet

Goyard “Domaine de Roally” 1999 Mâcon-Villages “Tradition” (Mâcon) – Vivid and beeswaxy, commencing in a linear fashion, growing rounder and fleshier around the waist, and then tapering again into the finish. Dry honey, chalk, crystals. After an hour or so, there’s a hint of butter. A really, really good wine, and my best bottle of this yet. (3/10)

Don’t be an Asso

Bologna “Serra dei Fiore” 2008 Langhe Chardonnay “Asso di Fiore” (Piedmont) – Peach and citrus rinds. Straightforward. Nice. Hey, it’s only chardonnay, what more do you want? (3/10)

Capitol

l’Armangia 2008 Piemonte Chardonnay “Pratorotondo” (Piedmont) – 70% stainless steel and 30% wood, sulfured only once at bottling. Shy, lending a brief glimpse of melon and lemon (the latter heavy on the rind) under the shade of an acacia tree. Kinda…eh. (3/10)

Kato

Kalin 1994 Chardonnay “Cuvée LD” (Sonoma County) – Bronzing in both hue and flavor; kinda like drinking a copper-colored sunset haze as the brown aromatics of a fall day rise from the cooling ground. Yet it’s a warm wine…balanced, but full, and with a more than decent finish. As it airs, ripe spiced apricot and fierce (but still welcome) acidity take over, and there’s a constant undercurrent of minerality. Nothing’s out of place, and this has aged very well. (1/10)

The first

Jean Milan 2002 Champagne Grand Cru “Sélection” Blanc de Blancs Brut “Cuvée Terres de Noël” (Champagne) – An acid-drenched pillow, simultaneously comforting and bracing, and dancing through fields of berries, their flowers, earth-driven ripe red-fruitedness, and sunny Georgia peach. Endlessly long. Rich like a winter ale, and oh so very beautiful. (12/09)

Fields of gold

JP Brun “Terres Dorées” 2007 Beaujolais Blanc (Beaujolais) – Continuing to stand above the Beaujolais Blanc pack (admittedly, I don’t even think I’ve reached a half-dozen examples, although I have no idea how many wines labeled Mâcon that I’ve tasted have been secret brethren), due less to its rich, earthy aromatics than its more vibrant palate presence and firmer structure. Still one of my favorite French chardonnays, given a certain and deliberate personal poverty within that category. (9/09)

Fabric

Granger “La Jacarde” 2008 Beaujolais Villages Blanc (Beaujolais) – Pure chardonnay seen through the lens of Beaujolais: a simple, sweet melody rather than a concerto or symphony of flavor. Light and pretty. (9/09)