2001 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay

[TheEngineer]

Medium gold in color, Nice fruity nose with a touch of spice. Nice green apple, and strong lychee at the endNice round mouthfeel and a hint of minerals. Good balance and must be great with food. $46?

[brappy]

Have tasted this wine a few times now. And not one time have I figured out what the winemaker was going for. Even the newer vintages have baffled me. personally, I think they sell the chard on the merits of the estate cab, but that's just me. Just seems to have absolutely no complexity and too much acid.

Never tasted with food though.....

[TheEngineer]

I agree with you. I thought that it was somewhere between a Chablis and a Mersault without either of the elegance but otherwise faultless? Maybe it was just a case of it not being too oaky that hit me as being attractive at that point in time.

[brappy]

I think you hit this one on the nose. "between a Chablis and a Mersault without either of the elegance but otherwise faultless?" I don't know if "faultless" is the right term, but I get where you're going with this. In some wierd way, I keep on wanting to taste this, but it never brings me pleasure. Just one of those wines I keep on trying to "intellectially" figure out. It makes me wonder if the same winemaker picks the barrels to bottle as does the Cabernet.

And malo? It's extremely light if there at all. I have this on my list for the simple reason that it sells. Some people get it every time they come in. Doesn't make me understand it anymore though.

Also, I've only bought one bottle of this and the rest have been tasted through trade tastings. I've a hard time paying that much for a chard that I intend to taste intellectually.

Thanks for the response.

mark

[wondersofwine]

Mark,
Do you enjoy white Burgundies? Like Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet? I do find some white Burgundies I really like but few California Chardonnays. In the past year or two I have liked a Landmark Chardonnay and now recently the Markham Chardonnay in which only 40% of the juice undergoes secondary fermentation.