Random white wine TNs: One Beauty but too many Busts

[Michael Malinoski]

These are notes from some random whites drunk at home over the past few weeks. Many of these were low-cost efforts bought by my wife to find some decent QPR summer drinking. No such luck in a lot of cases...

2007 Sterling Vineyards Chardonnay Napa Valley. Aromas of crisp apples and flint are offset by some obvious sweet oak in a one-dimensional package. It suffers from the same fate on the palate, where sweet simple fruit is cut through by acids that are a bit too jagged at times. It is short and abbreviated on the finish. Drunk very cold, it can pass for a summer sipper, but little more.

2007 Mount Eden Chardonnay Edna Valley Wolff Vineyard. This wine has a quiet, soft and gentle nose of sweet chalk, crushed gravel, vanilla, Delicious apple and a bit of toasted meringue. In the mouth, it is similarly soft and feminine. However, it just doesn’t really seem to have a lot of decisiveness or overt structure to it. It features open-knit and gently sweet pear and apple flavors with twinges of tropical fruits and soft oak. There is a nice bit of flavor volume through the middle, but it needs more acidity and drive and structure to it, truthfully. The finish is friendly and even-keeled, with a bit more spicy edging but not a whole lot of excitement. I was frankly hoping for more.

2007 Stuhlmuller Vineyards Chardonnay Estate Alexander Valley. This is a very clear, almost metallic golden yellow color—with a hint of a pea green sheen. At first, the fine aromatic profile is all about green apple, crushed rocks, herbs and seashells. But with a bit of air, a richer undercurrent begins to make itself known—with heavy aromas of pure oak, vanilla and butter starting to make me a bit nervous. I’m actually expecting those notes to grow and overtake the nicer Chablis-like elements, but instead they actually seem to thankfully recede and blend in over time. In the mouth, the wine is fairly large-boned and voluminous, with a good bit of heft and plenty of richness of fruit. It pumps out a lot of flavors in the white peach, pear, vanilla, cream and toasted barrel spice registers. It has a lactic feel to it, but not in too overdone a fashion. It finishes with more acidity than it shows through the mid-palate, and has a good lingering feel to it.

2004 Rochioli Chardonnay Russian River Valley. This Chardonnay is really a class act--speaking softly but carrying a big stick. Beautiful aromas of cool river stones and minerals poke through from time to time in what is otherwise a pretty yet rich bouquet of pear flesh, pineapple, hazelnut, vanilla and soft oak. In the mouth, it seems to have near-perfect balance, with a feeling of easy but significant heft. Soft, buttressing acidity frames a cool, charming package of rich pear, melon, hazelnut and mineral flavors riding above a dollop of gentle oak. It is creamy and well-bred, with excellent delineation and plenty of full Rochioli character. This was a perfect pairing with a wood-smoked striper in beurre blanc sauce and cheesy risotto.

2006 Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay Grand Reserve California. This wine is 55% Monterey County fruit and 45% Santa Barbara fruit. It smells of pears, white peach, grapefruit, river rocks and lemon cake, with some heavy-bottomed oak notes growing over time. In the mouth, it is thick-legged and a bit oily-textured. Wood planking is right out front, but so too is a massive dose of powerful fruit flavors like lemon verbena, tropical fruits, vanilla and toasted spices. It is a ball of yellow fruit sporting some woody splinters, but it does pump out a lot of flavor for casual sipping.

2004 Conundrum Wines White Table Wine California. The nose is a bit shy at first, but comes on strong with some time in the glass—revealing an odd but interesting mélange of scents like peach pit, chalk, lanolin, honeysuckle, banana and yellow raisin. In the mouth, it is soft and easy, with an open texture. Some moderately layered flavors of pineapple, nectarine, brown pear and ticklish spices are generous and easy, but without much acidic framing. It has not gone totally flabby, but can seem tired at times and ought to be drunk up.

2006 Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley. This wine is thin and ungiving on the nose, smelling of steel nails, cement, talcum, grapefruit, green melon and cool herbs in a pinched and tinny package. In the mouth, it is toughly tart and acidically sour. It shows very little in the way of length, with a sharp abrupt finish. There is a bit of lemon/lime, grapefruit and pineapple fruit, but it is squinched and angular and slightly bitter. It seems to find a better footing the closer it gets to room temperature, but the finish stays austere and brisk. According to the person who brought it, this was actually an improvement on the last bottle she opened. This was a big disappointment for me, though.

2006 Trimbach Riesling Alsace. The nose features a bit of slate, pungent kerosene and Delicious apple flesh in an easy-going and uncomplicated package that shows occasional signs of lusciousness. In the mouth, it is very dry and a bit austere, though not especially crisp or structurally-defined. It is more like a sour, mouth-puckering quality defined by flavors of orange sourball candy and lemon oil flavors. The flavors themselves have some nice qualities, but it is just too sour and austerely dry for me.

-Michael

[sdr]

Thanks for the notes, Michael.

It's hard to find good whites from California at a modest price although your descriptions sound even more disappointing than usual.

For good QPR whites, especially during the hot summer months, it's hard to beat German wine.

~stuart

[Michael Malinoski]

Stuart, I agree with you! Hopefully this recent rash of mediocre Chards will convince my wife to let me stock up on some dry Rieslings for her next time around.

-Michael