X Winery Carneros Chardonnay

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of odds and ends with my wine reviews and neglecting the “themed series” approach.  I have a couple themes in the works in the tasting room (i.e. my office in front of the computer).  But before I get into those series I have a couple more odds and ends.  Today it’s a Chardonnay.

A couple weeks ago I did a review about the X Winery Zinfandel, which I enjoyed.  I’ve also heard some buzz about their Carneros Chardonnay, so I thought it would be good to give that one a shot and get a review posted here.

In my writeup about the Zinfandel I was speculating about the origins of the X Winery name.   A rep from the company contacted me to share the story of the origin.  Apparently when they were trying to come up with names for the winery they had a list of possible names and started to put X’s next to the names that they liked.  When they went back to the list, they realized that they liked the X’s more than any of the names so they went with it.

The grapes for this Chardonnay are sourced from two highly acclaimed Carneros vineyards: Sangiocomo Vineyards in Sonoma County (which has been the grape origin for a number of award winning wines) and Truchard Vineyards in Napa Valley (whose wines have also won their share of awards).

In a nutshell, the X Winery Chardonnay is very good—one of the best I’ve had in quite a while. The nose has a nice blend of pear, floral/honeysuckle, straw and pineapple.  The palate is rich, filled with pear and vanilla, followed by lemon on the finish.  It’s perfectly balanced and the finish pleasantly lingers.

It’s not going to work for the $10 and under crowd, but if you’re willing to spend a few dollars more, this is a very nice wine.

Wine: X Winery
Variety: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 14.5%
Rating: 91
Price: $18.99

Find X Winery Chardonnay with Snooth