McWilliam’s seems to have taken a stealthy approach to marketing of late, as some of their brands have decidedly slipped off my radar, Barwang included. I remember having some lovely reds in the late 90s from this Hilltops winery, and the prices were always excellent for the quality. But not so much visibility of late. So, in an effort to remain “with it,” I thought I’d give this Chardonnay a go tonight.
Te Mata Elston Chardonnay 2006
I tasted another Te Mata Chardonnay, the Woodthorpe Vineyard wine, a couple of weeks ago and was quite impressed. So I picked up Te Mata’s premium Chardonnay eagerly at cellar door, and today had the chance to open it for a drink. Nice wine to finish off Christmas Day, I reckon.Youthful, pale hay colour, good clarity. The nose is quite tight, with some yeasty characters along with zingy citrus and some nutty oak. Balanced and subtle, with flavours showing excellent integration. The wine’s entry is very fresh due to prominent acidity, and marks the start of a very structured, driven line that shoots right down the middle of the tongue. The middle palate shows an array of flavours ranging from cooler climate Chardonnay fruit to yeasty/creamy characters and nutty/spicy oak. Fruit flavour is moderately intense and of good complexity. As with the Woodthorpe, the wine is really well balanced, each element contributing an appropriate amount of flavour and structure to the wine. Unlike the Woodthorpe, the Elston is much more structural, at least at this stage. This translates to an impression of astringency and suggests the wine might drink well in a couple of years’ time. An impressive wine that is all about harmony rather than impact and scale. Drink this with a creamy pasta dish and leave some in the bottle to ponder through the evening. Good value for what it is.Te Mata EstatePrice: $NZ37.20Closure: DiamDate tasted: December 2007
Beringer Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2004
Opening the bottle is about the same as opening that giant can of Libby’s fruit cocktail they’d serve when you were back in elementary school: it smells like pears and cheap corn syrup… not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you. There’s also a whiff of something like sulfur dioxide, and some sort of generic oak note (barrel fermentation?), but not a particularly strong one: it smells clean and nonoffensive, like it should be served in a Tokyo pâtisserie.Medium-weight in the mouth, there’s a not particularly appealing woodiness about it (low level TCA taint?), a slight sweetness, and very little interest. The finish is short and perfunctory.Overall, this wine is probably best bought for the tasteful label – just not for the wine itself.BeringerPrice: US $11.99Closure: CorkDate tasted: December 2007
Clearview Reserve Chardonnay 2006
Clearview’s restaurant is a pretty popular place, judging by the crowd we saw at lunch today. I can confirm the food and setting are both excellent. But how are the wines? We tried two with lunch, of which this was the first. Really nutty, yeasty aromas initially dominate the nose, with nectarine and melon-like fruit emerging with some vigorous swirling. There are also sweet butterscotch aromas and toastiness. All in all, this wine seems pretty heavily worked, but also complex and interesting.In the mouth, this is a little lighter than one might expect from the nose. Initially, the oak is quite dominant, but that’s ok because it’s super tasty and the winemaking creates a wide spectrum of flavours. Acidity is lively through the palate, and well integrated. The malo-derived flavours are quite prominent. As the wine warmed up, some fruit weight became evident, and to my taste the balance of the wine improved markedly. So I wouldn’t serve this straight from the fridge if you want to taste all that’s in there. A lengthy finish rounds the wine off nicely.Despite the style, it’s a food friendly wine that accompanied our meal well.Clearview EstatePrice: $NZ35Closure: StelvinDate tasted: December 2007
Te Mata Estate Woodthorpe Vineyard Chardonnay 2006
This is a single vineyard wine from the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand. According to the label, it’s gone through the gamut of winemaking tricks, including lees contact and malolactic fermentation. The nose immediately establishes the flavour profile of this wine’s fruit. It’s very much in the nectarine spectrum, quite ripe and with good complexity. There’s some spicy oak influence too, but it sits on the edges. The wine’s entry has good impact and spreads flavour quickly to the middle palate, where more of the same delicious fruit is evident. There’s some nuttiness, though I can’t detect the creaminess that might indicate lees stirring. There’s also a subtle butterscotch richness from the malo, but it’s very much a supporting note here, the fruit taking centre stage. Really good intensity of flavour, with a driving line that helps the fruit to sing. There’s a fair amount of acidity and this keeps the wine both focussed and fresh, although it also means there’s considerable astringency on the palate. The wine’s after palate continues on for some time, and the finish is of decent length, with echoes of the fruit seeming to stick to the back of the tongue. There are subtle phenolics that add some texture to the finish also.Really nice wine, this one. I think what impresses me most is the restraint of the winemaking combined with the intensity of the fruit flavour. Nice things to have, especially when it comes to Chardonnay. Good value too.Te Mata EstatePrice: $NZ23Closure: StelvinDate tasted: December 2007
Napa Family Vineyards Napa Valley Finest Selection Reserve Chardonnay 2005
You know, the label on this wine practically gives me carpal tunnel just typing it in… Anyhow, on to another of Tesco Finest, er Napa Family Vineyards’ blah blah blah wines…Curiously enough, this wine smells like the nursing home my Aunt Emma lived in towards the end of her life. There’s a very old-ladies-in-wheelchairs floweriness here – kind of like a Laura Ashley boutique just opened shop at the bottom of my glass. It’s surprising mostly because this isn’t something I smell a lot of in my life, especially not in wines I buy. Anyhow: it’s basically a mix of nasturtium, lavender, rosemary honey, and some French oak (?) in the background.In the mouth, the wine is big, rich, round, and fat, ending in a very spicy note. It’s unusual for a mass market California chardonnay in that the movie theater butter note doesn’t spring itself on you until the very finish: it’s overall far spicier than buttery, which is, I suppose, a refreshing change from the usual. Even so, it’s not terribly complex, with nothing (that I can tell) coming from wild yeasts, lees stirring, or other techniques that might increase the interest.To sum up, it’s a decent enough wine. It thankfully doesn’t show the banana-pineapple flavors you often find in wines at this price, and the flowery spiciness could be highly attractive to some folks. Most importantly, it delivers enough at its price point and the bottle looks quite nice (once you peel off the SPECIALLY SELECTED BY fresh&easy label).Napa Family Vineyards [but really fresh&easy]
Houghton White Classic (nee Burgundy) 2006
The first thing that strikes one about this wine is not the colour or aroma but the back label, most of which is devoted to explaining why the name has changed from White Burgundy to White Classic (it’s all because of “international trade agreements”, apparently). In any case, this is the same venerable dry white blend that has been a budget priced staple for many years. I’ve never been entirely sure of the blend of grapes that goes into this wine, and at the risk of inflating this entry’s tags beyond reasonableness, have determined that it contains Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Semillon, Verdelho and Sauvignon Blanc. Phew.Surprisingly complex aromas that also show what appears to be a bit of honeyed bottle age. A mix of this sweet honey and powdery florals, slightly thick smelling and overlaying more reticent honeydew-like fruit. It actually smells a bit like cheap perfume. The entry is slippery but without immediate flavour, and it’s only towards the end of the middle palate that fruit flavour begins to build. Flavours are again in the light melon and perhaps apple spectrum, quite tasty, but lacking what I would call “integrity” in its flavour profile. Some wines present flavours that somehow add up to a satisfying whole — this wine seems more scatterbrained. Flavour continues to build towards the after palate, and the wine finishes with subtle, bitter phenolics. There’s also relatively lively acidity running the length of the palate, which is refreshing and helps the flavours gain some impact.I’m not sure what to make of this wine. Clearly, it’s exceptional value for money, and it’s quite different from your run of the mill Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon or Chardonnay. That in itself worth something. But when it comes time to assess what’s in the glass, I’m having a hard time getting particularly excited. It does the job. That’s about it. I believe this wine ages well (although I’ve never tried an older example). Perhaps, like our beloved Hunter Semillon, this may turn into something unexpectedly interesting with time.HoughtonPrice: $A8Closure: Cork (!)Date tasted: December 2007
Rene Florancy Champagne NV
Cooking dinner this evening, I poured myself a glass of this straight out of the fridge and decided to give it time to warm up on its own. The mousse is textbook perfect: tiny bubbles, very consistent upward flow, and it makes a lovely heart-shaped display on top of the wine in the glass.The nose is subtly biscuity, with a hint of fresh pears and green apples, along with a bit o’ honey. In the mouth, the acidity is spot on: it’s all fairly lightweight, but immensely appetizing, with a delightful prickling sensation as well. Mmm good. The dosage seems perhaps a bit high – although this is labeled brut, perhaps it should have been labeled as extra dry?My only complaint is really the price: although this wine sells for about £24 in the UK (making it ridiculous cheap here in the States by comparison), you can get similarly high quality house brand Champagne for $20 (Costco), or even name brand Champagne for $22 (Piper Heidsieck at Vintage Wines here in San Diego). So why does this cost $27?[but really fresh&easy]Price: US $26.99Closure: CorkDate tasted: December 2007
Yalumba Wild Ferment Eden Valley Chardonnay 2005
I’ve had this wine before but, interestingly, this wine showed a lot tighter than the previous bottle. It’s labelled “Wild Ferment” and there are certainly some super funky aromas hanging around, along with some matchsticky sulfur, citrus and white stonefruit. Most definitely super complex for a Chardonnay at this price point. The entry is quite linear and surprisingly, considering the nose, primarily structural, leading to a middle palate that is flavoursome but also very focused and acid-driven. Here we get moderately intense grapefruit and white peach notes, more funky flavours and light sulfur, along with astringent acidity and some oak-derived flavours. The acid structure takes the wine over a little and drives it through to a finish that is quite drying, perhaps with some phenolics coming into play. I paid $A14 for this wine, and I would expect a technically correct but quite uninteresting Chardonnay at this price point. This wine totally overdelivers and presents not only good winemaking but some personality too. We had this with a snack of Italian bread and macadamia salsa, and the wine responded well to food, although it didn’t soften as much as I thought it might in the face of oily food. YalumbaPrice: $A14Closure: StelvinDate tasted: December 2007
Deutz Marlborough Brut Cuvée NV
I really felt like sparkling wine tonight, but didn’t want to spend a bundle. I reached for some Domaine Chandon at the local bottlo but thought I’d give the Deutz a spin.
Whoops. On pouring, this wine shows a frothy, coarse mousse that almost instantly disappears. In its wake is left a basically non-existent bead. A bit like flat Diet Coke. The nose shows some bready characters, nothing especially interesting or complex, and slightly stale-smelling. The palate is more fruit-driven, with some attractive, round fruit flavours in the mix. The wine froths up again in the mouth, and the coarseness of the effervescence means this is isn’t altogether pleasant. On the plus side, the acidity seems well balanced and there’s some tasty fruit in there. But the textural dimension to this wine lets it down almost entirely, and I can’t find much sophistication anywhere in this wine.
For the price, I would expect more. I wonder if it was a bad bottle?
Deutz Marlborough Cuvée
Price: $A20
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007