Coastal Ridge Chardonnay

It’s been a while since we’ve done a series on Chardonnay, and given its popularity I thought I should revisit it.  So, I pulled the a few bottles of it I had gathered in my tasting queue to do a blind tasting.  There were no absolute rock stars in the lot, but there were a couple decent Chardonnays.  But I’ll give you the lowdown on all of them.

First up is the Coastal Ridge 2007.  This is a California Chardonnay and one of the labels produced by bulk wine producer Bronco Wine Company — a company you’re sure to buy a few wines from if you’re shopping on the cheap.  Coastal Ridge is a brand that you’ll see in a lot of grocery stores and one that for me is fairly representative of bulk wine.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad though, I’ve seen Coastal Ridge on a few “best buy” lists in various wine publications.  So they can be OK for bargain shoppers.

This particular Chardonnay, to be honest, didn’t knock my socks off.  But it wasn’t all bad either.  It has a simple, unsophisticated bouquet —  fairly tight and lacks complexity.  It’s pretty much just citrus and oak on the nose.  The palate brings apple,  melon and citrus flavors with decent acidity.  Not bad.  The finish is citrus and melon and lasts quite a bit longer than I expected.  There’s nothing objectionable about the flavors in the wine, but it lacks depth.

It’s definitely made for consumers who like a lot of oak in their Chardonnay (which I admittedly am not one of those consumers), but it’s not as oaky as some others I’ve had.

Wine: Coastal Ridge
Variety: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2007
Alcohol: 12.5%
Rating: 81
Price: $7.50