98 Chat. St. Jean SB, La Petite Etoile, Foul or Fabulous?

[Scoop]

It's an unusual situation with these oak cocktails (especially whites, and most egregiously, Chardonnay) in the US. It seems that palates here have almost been trained to respond positively to those high vanilla notes.

At a recent wine event in NYC (but not a wine industry event), US and French versions of the same varietals were paired against each other in blind tastings. It was entertaining, and the wines were well chosen. It was also very obvious for those with any tasting experience which wines came from where.

When it came to the Chardonnay, one of the wines was a monster, fat and viscous with some nice spicy notes (nutmeg) and that big buttery vanilla (I believe it was from Grundlach). Obviously Californian. The other was understated yet rich, with nice body and acidity, beautiful melon and apple-pie fruit, and a wonderful hazlenut touch in the finish. And no signs of oak. It would be marvelous with some good bird. Obviously this was a classic cru Burgundy.

The tasting leader asked after each "round" which was the favorite. For the Chard, it was at least 5 to 1 in favor of the typically big, over-oaked Californian.

Oh well. We've got some work to do.

Cheers,

Scoop