“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” * or at least that is how it felt as the KensWineGuide.com Tasting panel got together for 2 Blind Chardonnay tastings over the last couple of weeks. The first tasting was on Friday, August 31st. On that night we tried 15 wines that cost $18 or more. On Friday, September 7th we tried 18 wines that cost $18 or less. The two tastings could not have been more different. In the first tasting we recommended 10 wines out of 15 that qualified as being “Very Good” or better. We are even pretty certain that 1 of the 5 that didn’t make it was a bad bottle, not a bad wine. So we had quite a successful tasting! As for the second tasting, the results were very disappointing. The panel could only recommend 2 wines as “Very Good.” 8 of the remaining 16 wines were classified as Good and the remaining 8 were below that standard. Does that mean that you have to spend more than $18 to get a Very Good bottle of Chardonnay? I would say the answer is maybe. It certainly increases your chances of getting a Very Good bottle. However, let us remind you that Kendall Jackson consistently makes a very solid “Vintners Reserve” Chardonnay priced at $10-$14 depending on where you live. So it can be done.
So what were the results? In our first tasting, the winner was the 2006 Fritz “Ruxton” from the Russian River Valley. This wine was a terrific Chardonnay for $35. It earned a Very Good+ (91.4) score from our panel. If you like creamy Chardonnay, find one of these beauties and indulge yourself with this treat. In second place was another Russian River Chardonnay. This wine was the 2004 Scherrer Winery “Helfer Vineyard” Chardonnay for $40. This wine was equally as yummy and also grabbed a Very Good + score of (90.1). The unfortunate thing about this wine is that there were only 68 cases made and they are all gone. Third place went to the Robert Stemmler winery. The 2005 Robert Stemmler “Estate Grown” Chardonnay $36 from Carneros also scored a Very Good+ score of (90.0). Our 4th place finisher was from
Talley in Arroyo Grande, CA. This is an up and coming region. The 2005 Talley “Estate” for $26 scored an (89.5) from the panel. Handley Cellars took 5th place with their 2005 “Handley Vineyard” Chardonnay $20 from the Dry Creek Valley. This wine was the best deal (value price) of the first tasting at $20.
The other Top 10 finishers were as follows:
#6 2005 Thelma “Thelema Mtn” (Stellenbosch, S. Africa), $25 (88.75)
#7 2006 Fritz (Russian River Valley, CA), $25 (88.6)
#8 2005 White Oak “25th Anniversary” (Russian River, CA), $23 (88.0)
#9 2005 Landmark “Overlook” (CA), $26 (87.6)
#10 2005 Handley “Estate Vineyard” (Anderson Valley), $20 (87.0)
In tasting #2 our two winners both came from South Africa. The best deal of both tastings was the 2006 Indaba Chardonnay. This wine scored an (87.60) or Very Good. At $9 per bottle this was our best value priced Chardonnay from both tastings. In second place, was the 2005 Buitenverwaching from Constantia, South Africa. At $18 per bottle this wine could have been in the first tasting. It finished with a score of Very Good (87.57).
We hope you can find some of these gems and enjoy them this fall.
Cheers,
The KensWineGuide.com Tasting Panel
* Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities English novelist (1812 – 1870)