I don’t like chardonnay. OK, that’s not entirely true. I don’t like bad chardonnay, and unfortunately there’s way too much of that out there. When I find one that’s made well I love it. By “made well” I mean that the palate isn’t buried in oak, it still has crisp acidity and it has lively […]
Last night I reviewed the 337 cabernet sauvignon and tonight I thought I’d give props to his sister, 446 chardonnay. It’s another part of the Noble Vines lineup. This wine is named after a combination of the vine clone and the block where it’s grown. The vine, clone 4, is also called the “Martini clone” […]
I’ve highlighted a couple tasty Chilean, cool-climate chardonnays lately. So, today let’s round it out with a third. This one, from Concha y Toro, is another from the Limarí Valley. Concha y Toro is the largest wine producer in Chile, and the largest in Latin America. Its roots go all the way back to 1883, […]
Last week, in my review of Santa Ema chardonnay, I had mentioned how cool climate regions tend to produce better chardonnay than other locations. And tonight I want to highlight another awesome chardonnay from another cool climate region. De Martino Legado Reserva chardonnay is also from Chile, but this wine is from the Limarí Valley—a […]
Not unlike a lot of wine geeks, I’m not a big fan of chardonnay. Although I try to be impartial with all reviews and judge a wine on how good it is for its style, I’m admittedly a little hard on chardonnay. I just often find it to be out of balance, clumsy and not […]
Issue number 18 of Mutineer Magazine hits shelves today and my column in the magazine this month includes an overview of some great values to be found in Paso Robles—including this chardonnay from Stillwaters Vineyards. When I visited Stillwaters Vineyards back in March, I not only appreciated their wines, but got a little insight from […]
Running a restaurant in the United States, and more specifically, in the mid-west, I’ve had to become extremely familiar with the Chardonnay varietal. In fact, I’d say that beyond Sangiovese (it’s an Italian restaurant), I’d say that chardonnay ranks second in total volume of wines I’ve tasted. I’d bet that I’ve tasted more chardonnay than […]
The Chardonnay grape deserves respect. The king of white wine has earned it. But with that earned respect comes great expectation, and these days low to mid-tier producers of Chardonnay face unprecedented levels of competition from varietals such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Viognier, particularly from up and coming foreign producers. So when I […]
You’ve probably seen this wine on the shelves of your local grocery store — that is, if they sell wine at grocery stores in your area. Regardless, my point is that this is a mass-produced and widely distributed wine. It’s made by the Bronco Wine Company, the same folks who are famous for producing Two-Buck […]
OK, I’m not going to spend a lot of time belaboring this one. I’ve expressed my opinions about Barefoot wines in the past. They aren’t that exciting, but they generally do a good job in cranking out some decent wines. I haven’t had any Barefoot wine that I’d call “sex in a glass” but I’ve […]
