ME AND THE HUBSTER DO A CHARDONNAY WINE TASTING AT HOME
Let me say, I had planned on doing a blog on Chardonnay wine before the Covid-19 pandemic. I had been gathering various Chardonnay wines to taste with the Hubster. However, when the Govenor closed Wisconsin Wineries, Distilleries, and Breweries, this blog came to the forefront. Over the course of a long weekend, the Hubster, one of our Millennials, and I tried the Chardonnays I had gathered.
This Is How We Did our Wine Tasting:
1, Open the wine to give it time to breathe. I can not stress this enough. Each time you come back to the wine, you will notice the flavor profile changes. Also, I like Chardonnay room temperature rather than chilled. The Hubster disagrees with this notion. However, I think you will taste the flavor notes more accurately than chilled. I will say, we do keep our wine in a cooler part of the house.
2. We tasted wines in groups of two. This helped to really distinguish the tasting notes of the wine.
3. Finally, of course we had a Charcuterie plate of cheeses, meats, grapes, and crackers to make it fun. Also, there was oyster crackers and glasses of water to cleanse the palate.
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| Something to nosh on while enjoying our Chardonnays. |
There are five "S's' to tasting wine. They include:
1. Sight-notice the color of the wine. Even with Chardonnnay there were varying colors from
straw to very light in color.
2 Swirl the wine in the glass to aeriate it.
3. Smell the wine-Go ahead, get your nose in there to help determine what flavor notes are in the
wine. One of my biggest gripes of some wineries is that their tasting glass is the size of a shot
glass. This is not a problem when tasting from home.
4. Sip the wine-identifying the tasting notes in your mouth.
5. Savor the wine-What is left in your mouth will help identify more tasting notes.
Just a Note-you do not have to do this for every sip of wine you take for a particular wine. If you do this, it is going to be a long tasting session.
AND SO, THIS IS HOW WE PAIRED THE CHARDONNAYS:
1. Robert Mondavi Private Selection Chardonnay and Robert Mondavi Buttery Chardonnay.
2. Wollersheim Chardonnay 2016 and Stone's Throw Chardonnay 2016
3. Yellow Tail Chardonnay 2018 and William Wright 2018
4. Starmont Chardonnay and Merryvale Chardonnay
First up is the the Robert Mondavi Chardonnays of Napa Valley. Having visited this winery last year, we were excited to try their more modestly priced Chardonnays. The Private Select was light and crisp with apple, citrus notes and vanilla undertones. The buttery oak comes out in the middle of tasting and lingers to the end. Remember, I said to let the wine breathe. We noticed the oak tasting notes were more intense as the wine "breathed."
Ah-h-h, the Buttery Chardonnay with its straw color had oak notes in the beginning and then smooth Butter throughout. This is what is meant by the "butter bomb," only in an updated way. This wine had light acidity as it coated your mouth with pure heaven! As the wine breathed, the flavor intensifies with toasted oak and a vanilla finish that is well-balanced.
Of the two Robert Mondavi's, the Millennial and I enjoyed the Buttery Chardonnay, while the Hubster liked the Private Select.
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| Modestly priced Robert Mondavi Private Selection Chardonnay and Robert Mondavi Buttery Chardonnay |
With the Stone's Throw Chardonnay, we could smell the oak, but not taste it. The wine was very smooth with apricot, vanilla, and caramel notes. The caramel notes become even more pronounced as the wine is allowed to breathe.
It is interesting how the wine is fermented for Wollersheim Chardonnay. One-third of the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks while the other two-thirds is fermented in oak barrels. After this, the two are combined and fermented in French oak barrels for ten months. During this time, the wine is stirred once a week to develop a smooth creaminess.
When tasting the Wollersheim Chardonnay, we noticed tart apple notes with toasted oak that enhanced the vanilla finish. There is suppose to be a savory note of bay leaves. However, none of us detected it.
Of the two Chardonnays, we enjoyed the Stone's Throw wine the best.
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| Wollersheim Chaedonnay and Stone's Throw Chardonnay. Notice the difference in color. Stone's Throw Chardonnay is a lovely straw color, while the Wollersheim is more luminous in color. |
Yellow Tail Winery is located in Yenda which is about 300 miles from Sydney, or Southwestern Australia. This wine is basic mass-produced, no frills, but doable Chardonnay. If you are new to Chardonnay, you might be tempted by the economical price-about $6.00-$8.00 a bottle. To us, there was a bitterness to the wine that did not improve even after given time to breathe. If anything, the flavor got worse.
However, do not be swayed by price. There are wines in the $6.00-$8.00 range that will surprise you. William Wright Chardonnay, made for Aldi's, would be a better choice as well as accessible Chardonnay to try. The William Wright Chardonnay, which comes from Monterey County in California, has pear and tropical notes with hints of buttery toasted oak and caramel highlights. As the wines breathes, the caramel notes become stronger as was the case for Stone's Throw Chardonnay. Remember the region the grapes come from can play an important part in tasting notes. I do like caramel. This wine is a steal at $7.99.
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| William Wright Chardonnay |
The Starmont Chardonnay has a puckery tart green apple with very little vanilla-good indicator of high acidity. The oak comes out at the end and is slight. I think the surprise was the little bubbles in the wine. This is probably due to second fermentation, and adds a little kick to the wine. The Millennial said this wine would be good with fish-if she liked fish.
Full disclosure is in order on the Merryvale Chardonnay. We tried the Merryvale Chardonnay on our trip out west, and let me say, 'It is the Chardonnay, I have been searching for." The wine is buttery from beginning to end. The vanilla notes are along for the ride, but is wrapped around the oak and then fades away. There are apricot notes with a slight tart taste that does not overpower the wine.
Obviously, the Merryvale Chardonnay won this round. The bottle was finished in about 5 days-much to my sadness. My fellow tasters promised me another bottle for my birthday. Folks, my birthday is four months away and that is a l. o. n. g. way off.
In the end, the Millennial liked the Robert Mondavi Buttery the best, the Merryvale, second, and finally the Starmont third. The Hubster liked the Robert Mondavi Private Selection the most, the Merryvale second, and finally the Starmont, third. Obviously, my favorite was the Merryvale Chardonnay, with the Stone's throw second, and the Mondavi Buttery coming in third. This seems kind of funny that the Hubster and the Millennial chose other wines as their favorite when the Merryvale disappeared first. While I was tying to savor it, they were drinking it. Just saying!!!!!
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| Sister Wineries Starmont Wineryryvale Winery from Napa Valley |
As Robert Mondavi said, "Making good wine is a skill, making fine wine is an art.
Stay Safe My Friends,
Until Next Time,
Minnie and the Hubster
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