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A Few Chards with Dinner

Last night with Chicken Picata (Giada's), roasted garlic couscous and grilled veggies I opened a couple of Chards.

1997 Latour Corton Charlemagne-Deep gold in color. The nose showd a fair amount of raosted hazelnut and a touch of oak. Quite rich on the palate with pear and golden delicious apple coming through a fairly opulent mouth feel. Plenty going on and the wine has probably peaked. No oxidized notes. A- on the Dale Scale.

2000 Domaine Laroche Chablis Les Blanchots-Pale shimmering gold in the glass. Creamy lemon curd and exotic spices mixed with a thick minerality across the palate. While a bit tight on the nose, it really opened up on the palate. A on the Dale Scale

2002 Shafer Red Shoulders Ranch Chardonnay-While this is ususally one of my favorite California Chards, compared to the two French Burgs it was just too much of everything. Fairly heavy aromas of oak and butter with some orange/lemon marmalade. Ripe fruits pears, peaches and citrus fruits dominate leaving a mouthcoating heaviness that was almost cloying. B on the Dale Scale.
Reply to
Bi!!
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Are there California Chardonnays that are NOT "too much of everything"?

Reply to
UC

I assume you are referring to the California Chardonnays that are either over oaked or too high % that went through maloatic. I saw that fad with many of the larger producers through the 90's. The smaller wineries rarely made Chards in the over blown style and the larger wineries have mostly gone away from it.

I like a rather bold Chardonnay myself but neither over oaked nor too buttery. I like a balance with lots of fruit and buttery. I don't like the overly crisp acidic Chardonnays at all.

Reply to
miles

Agreed on the '97 burgs but I got a good buy on it at close out and it is really drinking well right now. IIRC the importer of Laroche suffered a monstrous loss a few years back when a number of reefer containers went bad in transit due to unforseen delays causing the reefers to run out of fuel cooking most of the US allocation.

Reply to
Bi!!

I have enjoyed a Meursault, ONCE.

Reply to
UC

About the appraisal that I would have expected. The Shafer is very, very high on my list too, but I would expect the outcome.

Now, I'm really curious how these paired with the Picata. We had a similar pairing recently, and I was going to go with a King Estate Reserve Pinot Grigio, but could not get to that part of the cellar. I did lesser Puligny- Montrachet, and it was good, but not great. I'd have loved to have had a bit more citrus and mineral, but would have had to move about 10 cases out, just to get there. My second choice was going to be a Sullivan Napa Chard (very Montrachet-like), but, again, I could not reach it, so I opted for an older Zind-Humbrecht GW. It was surprising, and with a bit of time to open up in the glass, did very well.

Thanks for the notes, Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

Yes, several. One of the best examples is TomS's Ch. Burbank. He posts here quite often and does a wonderful CA Chard. Another, though it has not been quite up to (its) par lately, is the Sullivan Napa Chard. Their reds are big, bold, in-your-face, but their Chards are delicate and well-balanced. Yes, they were better, when the fruit was grown out the front door, but it's still quite good. Some others, that I have enjoyed, are Au Bon Climate, Sanford and the Far Niente. They are out there, and usually pair with food better - similar to many, many FR Chards. OTOH, the big guys from CA are nice on their own.

Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

Oh, my God! That must have been a red-letter day. Tell us, what food did you consume with it?

Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

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