posted on 7 March 2009 by jeff
It disturbs me that my first wine review on the new site is of a California chardonnay, but it’s what I’ve got in my mouth, so I am compelled to make note of it.
I’m drinking the 2007 Samantha Starr chardonnay, from the Monterey AOC. Samantha Starr is associated with the Monterey super-house, Talbott. Much like Talbott, the Sam Starr label deals largely in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. At $16.99 it’s not necessarily budget chardonnay, but the comparative value is great. Moreover, the chard is the house pour at the Taj, and so for a relatively modest investment, one can take a little bit of hotel luxury home with them.
In the glass the wine is a beautifully clear, pale gold. The nose suggests ripe, creamy pear and, with a bit of time in the glass, a pleasant, vanilla-scented toastiness.
Though it offers a largely citric first pitch, the coolness of Monterey definitely exerts itself later in the count with notes of soft pear and a hint of green bananas. The finish is clean, if a bit sharp, which suggests that some of this fruit is sourced in, or around Talbott’s super-dry, Sleepy Hollow vineyard.
I like this wine. It tastes like chardonnay. For the money it offers an alternative to the ubiquitously oppressive weight of pineapple and vanilla ridden swill chardonnay, (I’m talking to you Kendall-Jackson, and you La Crema and. . . oh forget it, you all suck). The dry, bay-cooled climate of Monterey offers an interesting venue for chard, and this bottle has suggested as much while resisting the urge to manhandle the natural disposition of the grape.
J.
Tags: America, American White, American wine, California, California White, chardonnay, Samantha Starr, white wine
Category: Wine Reviews | Comments (0)
posted on 5 March 2009 by dan
One of our wine reps walks in the store around noon today asking do we want to taste some wine? with this bag stuffed with bottles hanging off his shoulder. And he pulls out six bottles of Charles Krug: five varietals from the 1861 appellation, plus a bottle of Generations, which has a little bit of everything in it. And so we say ok and we grab some cups and this rep pours out some sauvignon blanc and so we sip it and Jeff says wow. Which is notable.
For those of you unfamiliar with Charles Krug, the winery has the distinction of Peter Mondavi ownership and operation. Peter Mondavi and the rest of the Mondavi’s are to wine what the Kennedy’s once were to Am. govt. Check out The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty. The Amazon product review calls it “a tale of genius, sibling rivalry, and betrayal”. What with all the drama, it’s easy to forget the Mondavi family still produces some incredible bottles. These 1861 Charles Krug’s come from a winery recently remodeled after the original winery est. in that year, which was also the first winery est. in Napa. The 1861 is a brand-spanking-new label with an implicit statement of its own deep-rooted history.
As to this sauv blanc: function follows form. Grassy and reeking of citrus like any good s.b., it manages to straddle the old world and the new world with (frankly) surprising dexterity. Softer around the edges than its traditional French counterparts, but with a firmer center than most of the Cali interpretations. It’s immediately drinkable, but it leaves a lasting impression. Which is what makes Jeff say wow and I say yeah. The rep smiles, being a rep and all and enjoying making buyers say wow. It turns us into suckers.
For those of you unfamiliar with Jeff, he buys all the wine for dT and, plus, is in possession of an oft-frustrating depth of wine-knowledge. Like most in possession of such a knowledge, he tends to lean more towards the old school, citing claims of delicacy and subtlety and whatnot. California, then, and all the new school hedonists are needlessly over-the-top. So it’s rare a Napa wine will make Jeff say wow, but this is a Napa wine and Jeff says wow.
dT’s crazy today: we just got a whole coffee station (coffee by the cup or by the pound now available, by the way), we just got new signs for our wine deparment, a whole portfolio of interesting beers just became available to us… but after everything, what seems the most notable is that a wine from California made Jeff say wow.
Tags: American White, California White, Napa, sauvignon blanc
Category: The Wine Blog | Comments (0)
