Chardonnay

This is an outstanding Chablis that shows the vintage very well.  Lean yet, powerful.  Light silvery/gold in color.  The nose is classic with green apples.  Nice minerality too.  On the palate, this broadens across the palate, yet has nice green apple notes with good acidity.  An underlying minerality too.  It presents almost as two styles at the same time.  Delicious though.  Will work with lighter foods, seafood and poultry dishes.  Still young and has some upside.  

This is a project from the owners of Domaine Serene in Oregon.  Light green/gold in color.  The nose is chalky with slight vanilla and slight lemons.  On the palate, this is a big and fruity Chardonnay.  Quite tasty.  Lemony with a slightly sweet-tart candied note which is nice.  Big and long finish.  Perhaps a bit atypical for the vintage but a very nice wine that would go with a wide variety of lighter and medium weight foods.  

Silvery gold in color.  This has a really great nose.  Clean with just a touch of oak showing.  Salinity and ref apples.  With air, some citrus emerges.  On the palate, the apples come thru.  There is underlying minerality.  While the wine has a rich fat texture, it has enough acidity to work with.  Good finish but there is a touch of oak/harshness.  The wine seems to be drinking quite well right now, but may (or not) get a bit better.  Still, it seems prudent to drink these younger.  It will match well with sea food and lighter fare.  

Light golden in color with slight green tinges.  The nose is very nice with some lemon cream and underlying minerality.  This has a nice smokiness to it and also a bit of salinity.  On the palate, this is a bit fat and more acidity would be nice.  That said, it has lovely lemon fruit and a nice minerality.  Good finish.  It would work well with some rich seafood dishes.  

Light green gold in color.  The nose is nice with slight vanilla, lots of minerality and some lemon.  Also, with air, some eucalyptus/minty notes.  On the palate, this is crisp and lean (in a good way).  Less oak showing on the palate.  Nice clean finish.  This should work nicely with sea food and lighter foods.  Youthful, it should age out a bit over the next ten years.  

Silvery/gold in color.  The nose is very nice with gunpowder and slight lemon chiffon.  On the palate, this is slightly oily.  Nice lemony notes.  OK acidity.  A very nice wine that should work with lighter foods.  Fresh and lively right now.  It should be good for another five to ten, but it won't improve.  

This is a wonderful Champagne.  Light silvery gold in color.  A nice mousse with lots of tiny bubbles.  The nose is clean with seltzer, minerals and as it opens, slight cherry notes.  On the palate, this has great tart acidity.  Lots of lemons and some quince.  As it warms, some vanilla comes out.  Long chalky finish.  This is very young but drinking quite well right now.  Will go with just about any food.  Give it a few years and it will probably earn a perfect score.  

I had meant to open this with food, but we were starting to drink reds, and I wanted to open this earlier.  And the food was still being prepared, so we drank this as a cocktail.  It was very good that way, but luckily, there was a glass (or at least a few ounces left) to try with food.  Even better.  Light golden in color.  The nose is nice with lemon cream and slight vanilla.  It took a few minutes and then really picked up.  On the palate, this is crisp with good acidity.  Plenty of depth.  Lemon cream and slight vanilla again.  Good finish.  This is young and probably could use more air

This is drinking great at pop and pour though it seems like it will do five more years easily and probably ten.  Light gold in color, clear and bright.  The nose has some grapefruit with a very slight vanilla.  Very clean.  On the palate this has ripe grapefruit, minerals, slightly chalky, with slight green apples.

Most of us have bottles laying around the house that either people brought over or they somehow ended up with.  So is the story of this wine.  It was actually won in a raffle.  Initially, the idea of actually drinking some cheap California Chardonnay seemed ridiculous.  Still, rather than be dismissive, the plan was to drink it.  After about a month of staring at the bottle, the time finally came.  And that good people, is why we need to open the bottle and taste.  Now, that is not to say this is going to blow away Montrachet or Rhys Chardonnay.  But, for under $15, this was solid.  No obvi