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by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

Some Calif Chardonnay - February 13, 2014

Our BBB group tried last night (2/13/14) Some Calif Chards:

  1. Radio-Coteau Chard SavoyVnyd/AndersonVlly (13.6%; 362 cs; U) 2009: Med.gold color; attractive melony/Chard bit lanolin/honeyed some pencilly/butterscotchy/oak/classic R-C lovely nose; fairly tart ripe/melony/Chard some pencilly/oak/butterscotchy flavor; very long pencilly/oak/butterscotchy ripe/spicy/melony/Chard finish; a svelte/ bright/attractive Chard w/ classic R-C/understated oak. $36.00
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  2. BedrockWineCo Chard BrosseauVnyd/Chalone (13.1%; 30 yr old own-rooted vines; 25% new Fr.oak for 18 mo; 4 brls) 2010: Med.gold color; rather honeyed/pineapply/ripe/melony/Chard bit herbal/spicy some earthy/dusty nose; soft fairly rich/lush quite honeyed/ripe/melony/Chard/pineapply rather oaked/ butterscotchy/caramel flavor; long rather honeyed/pineapply/melony/Chard/graham cracker some oak/ butterscotch/caramel finish; some like the old Ravenswood Sangiacomo Chards w/o the reductive stink. $27.00
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  3. Peay Chard SonomaCoast (13.7%) 2009: Med.dark color; rich/lush butterscotchy/toasty/Fr.oak bit earthy/clunky honeyed/ripe/melony/Chard bit simple nose; tart/tangy rich/ripe/honeyed/melony/Chard slight earthy rather toasty/butterscotchy/Fr.oak flavor; med.long strong butterscotchy/toasty/Fr.oak tart/tangy rich/ripe/melony/Chard finish; a bit on the simple/clunky side and overpriced for what it is. $40.00
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  4. Peay Chard Estate/SonomaCoast (13.8%; 525 cs) 2009: Med.gold color; very perfumed/aromatic strong melony/Chard/spicy rather mineral/chalky some appley/apple pie/nutmeg quite spicy bit toasty/ pencilly/oak complex nose; rather tart some pencilly/toasty/oak strong melony/Chard/appley/spicy rather minerally/chalky/stony flavor; long light pencilly/toasty/oak strong melony/Chard/green apple/apple pie rather stony/mineral/chalky very spicy balanced finish; a very spicy Chard w/ lovely aromatics. $52.00
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  5. Peay Chard HirschVnyd/SonomaCoast (14.3%) 2009: Med.dark gold color; bit oxidized/aged/nutty ripe/melony/Chard/herbal strong toasty/butterscotchy nose; tart bit oxidized/nutty some ripe/melony/ Chard strong toasty/butterscotchy flavor; med. strong/toasty/butterscotchy/oak fairly ripe/melony/Chard tart bit nutty/oxidized/aged finish; a bit on the oafish side and seems prematurely old for its age. $60.00
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  6. Failla Chard SonomaCoast (14.2%; 400 cs; www.FaillaWines.com) 2009: Med.light gold color; lovely earthy/dusty light smokey/toasty/pencilly/oak strong appley/melony/Chard/very spicy quite aromatic bit complex nose; tart beautiful aromatic/perfumed very spicy/melony/tropical fruit/ripe/Chard light pencilly/toasty/oak/nutmeg flavor; very long/lingering melony/tropical fruit/Chard/ripe/very spicy light pencilly/nutmeg/oak finish; a very lovely Chard w/ lots of spicy/aromatic character; my favorite of these Chards; very good price at $38.50
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  7. Donkey&Goat Chard Untended/AndersonVlly (12.7%; U; Fukuoka farmed; www.DonkeyAndGoat.com) 2010: Med.gold color; bit funky/earthy slighht phenolic/resiny/cidery light appley/melony/Chard some toasty/oak complex nose; quite tart/austere bit resinous/phenolic/cidery very slight Chard/appley some funky/earthy flavor w/ a bit of tannic bite; very long very tart/appley/ underripe/ melony/Chard slight toasty/oak some phenolic/cidery finish; a rather strange Chard that seemsto have been made w/ some skin contact. $32.00
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  8. Donkey&Goat Chard BrosseauVnyd/Chalone (14.1%; U; Last harvest) 2010: Med.gold color; slight earthy/funky very strong melony/ripe/Chard/tropical fruit some dusty/stony rather perfumed/perfumed talc quite aromatic complex nose; bit tart/lean/austere strong appley/melony/Chard/quite spicy/apple pie light toasty/oak bit earthy/stony flavor; med.long very tart/austere/lean strong appley/apple pie/melony/Chard/ very spicy like toasty/oak bit earthy/dusty/chalky finish; needs some age yet; rather hard on the palate but very nice aromatics. $29.45
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  9. OjaiVnyd Chard ClosPepeVnyd/StaRitaHills (14.0%) 2008: Med.dark gold color; slightly oxidized/nutty light melony/Chard/appley some toasty/oak rather aged nose; soft bit oxidized/nutty strong toasty/ smokey/oak light ripe/melony/Chard slight earthy flavor; med.long soft rather toasty/oak/smokey bit nutty/ oxidized light/ripe/melony/Chard finish; rather clunky and seems much older than it should be. $30.00
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  10. OjaiVnyd Chard BienNacidoVnyd/SantaMariaVlly (13.5%) 2009: Light gold color; very strong melony/Chard/lemony/quite appley/spicy slight reductive/skunky (that clears) light pencilly/toasty/oak some floral/carnations/Viog-like rather perfumed/aromatic nose; rather tart slight reduced/pungent/skunky ripe/melony/Chard/pineapply/appley light pencilly/smokey/oak some floral/carnations/pear/Viog-like slight earthy/dusty flavor; very long light pencilly/smokey/oak strong ripe/melony/appley/Chard bit floral/Viog-like/pear finish; a fairly rich lovely/interesting Chard. $28.00


And a wee BloodyPulpit:

1. At our BacchusBadBoys group, Chards have pretty much been off the radar over the yrs. So I thought I'd put together a set of my favorite Chards to try. They seemed to be well-received.
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2. Both the Peay/Hirsch and the Ojai/ClosPepe seemed much more aged than I would expect them to be. Not bad wines, but older than I thought they should be. There's been a lot of problems w/ PreMOxed White Burgs, but I don't drink enough of those to have encountered one. So I don't know if Pre-Mox has been creeping into Calif Chards or these two btls were just anomalies.

TomHill

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