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EP 841 California Chardonnay Tasting

Gary has a confession to make- he’s starting to like oaky and buttery Chardonnays again. Today he tastes through 3 different wines in search of these flavors….

Wines tasted in this episode:

2008 Clos Blancheau James Berry ChardonnayPaso Robles Chardonnay
2007 Neyers Chardonnay El NovilleroNapa Chardonnay
2007 Newton Unfiltered ChardonnayNapa Chardonnay


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luca bercelli

90/100

line of the day – ‘that’s a girl I did years ago’

Everyone who’s ever had a glass of wine should watch this and realise that what you like one year you might not like the next

Tags: chardonnay, review, Video, white, wine, wines

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  • soon!

  • 😉

  • Anonymous

    thanks for the link. Let me see what I can find.

  • Anonymous

    Alan is a persistent commenter that is mia. Or is he now Elron???????!!!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    The Muller-Thurgau wine I had from northern Italy is a hybrid of Riesling and Sylvaner. The Winery is called Terlan and I really enjoyed it. I’ve heard others talk about the grape here and elsewhere. “The grape thrives in the cooler regions of Austria, Germany and the Alto Adige of Italy”. pretty good site.
    http://www.kellerei-terlan.com/

  • davidemillombard

    Funny thing is, I was just connecting with my friend in Australia who breeds grapes for the wine industry there! He was a big Phish head, I told him to check out the episode, sent him the link, and he goes….”ya oaked out Cali Chards..” Classic!!!

  • davidemillombard

    *****in case I wasn't clear, he said that before he or I watched the episode

  • jason carey

    The prob with all that oak, lees stiring and malo is that usually it masks the loveley fruit.
    I just tried the Servin Chablis 08 with almost no oak.. and they are Fantabulous.

  • Jay

    The Oak Monster was getting pissed that he didn't get any props for a solid 10 minutes, GV. But you came through and gave him the nod! Nice.

  • grellot

    Great show Gary. The best part about wine is the “change”. Always different and exciting, region to region, styles, vintage to vintage, keeps you wanting to try more, and keeps things from being boring. Beers are now offering a good variety–Stoudt's Mai Bock or Victory Hop Devil are the same every year–and that's not a BAD thing… wine offers you the chance to explore and discover even with the same producer every year!

  • Good episode. I haven't been keen on Chardonnay lately (for me at least, many people I know love them), as I've commented several times here on WLTV, but someday maybe soon, who knows.

    QOTD; 1, no, haven't tried any of them; 2, still on a quest so again no, haven't returned to any taste profile yet.

  • jason carey

    I have started enjoying Cabernet again.. but not the over extracted bomb style,, more the Bordelais non modern style.

  • ads

    gary, what is it with this shirt of yours, 'bout time for a change – can almost smell you from europe! Great Armagnac show – that's serious learnin

  • DAveAll

    Welcome back to oaky buttery – I've never left this style. woohoo. Glad to see your palate changed again. My palate changes almost every 18 months, but never liked Chard's that were grapefruit, pear or that range. thanks for the show.
    QOTD: Never had 'em. As I said above, I change every 18 months.

  • chnapa

    Great show Gary. I've recently attracted back to the Chards also after drinking too much SB and it was getting a bit boring. It?s good to mix it up a bit.
    QOTD: Have tried the Newton many times and not as buttery as others but tries to keep some balance. I tasted their 09 recently from barrel. It gets that great creamy character early from the oak. I have had the Neyers before but not that specific vineyard but same style.

  • Great show. It's funny I see this today. I went to by local money pit today and they have a section called “ABC Wines” (Anything But Chardonnay). I considered getting a couple of bottles but then passed. They just never really thrilled me.

    QOTD – Getting back into Merlot. This is what got me started on red wine and then I moved on. Now I think I'm going back.

  • baylorwine

    Longtime Itunes listner, been wanting to get involved here. I agree so much about moods for different wines, including styles of varietals. Montrachet vs. Cali Chards, they are both chards but what mood are you in? Almost like different albums from you favorite band.

    A few items;
    -Gary, thanks for the Baylor love…BU class of '98. I hate Duke even more now…
    -I hate the 49ers as well, but you gotta love Singletary. Nothing gets your team ready like dropping trow.

    QOTD#1: Have had two different vintages of the Newton with my dad, both were butter-oak bombs. While they were a good representation of the style, they didn't do much for me.
    QOD#2: My comeback is the other side of the California debate…oaky cali cabs. Loved them, bought a bunch, then ran to old world. Now I am back on them, and the '97s and '99s I put down are drinking great. Sometimes it is really good to come home.

  • Hey Gary

    Nice show, great being away of your tastes.

    QOTD: I'm not sure really if my tastes have changed too much, there's not really much wine I don't like or don't try. I suppose I just try and drink as much different stuff as possible and thus try as many different wines and wine styles…

    Cheers
    Andrew

  • joahalp

    I love Anguilla! Did you go to Little Bay beach…only accessible by boat or climbing down a rope.

  • waynoooo daaaaa winoooo

    YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKES, G embracin' daa OAK MONSTEEEERRRR !!!!!!??!!!!
    WHOOOOOO WOULDA THUNK IT ????????????????????????

    qotd1: Got some of the entry level Neyers Carneros District Chardonnay 2007 that i
    haven't tried yet. Think i'll throw one of those Puppys in der Fridge & have 'er tanight…

    qotd2: Gone “back” ta something ?????? i'm drawin' Blanks on dat one……………….

  • troytee

    The palate switch is on. After 2 years of Cali un-oaked being pushed like crazy, oaked is back.
    Butter Bandit…makes me think Twinkie the Kid!
    Headline reads “Garyvee – Oak Monster Summit Terrorized by foe Chocolate Covered Cherries”
    Ep. 841 is strong.
    QOTD #2- Returned to WLTV and Aussie Shiraz. My palate circa 1998 as well.

  • Never had these, but I'm seeing the fact that I am starting to re-like Bordeaux again. Been tired of all the bragging body that most of the Bordeaux has, but after a year, I'm ready for some heavy bodied wines!

  • change is good.
    especially liked the tongue grab.

    Hope Mott is doing OK.

    I've still got a couple a CA-Chards that I've been holding to try in the warmer weather. Tomorrw is supposed to be high 70's in VT, so maybe it's time to crack one. I'm still not so sure about the butteroak, and the acids have to be there.
    QOTD: Tried the Neyers last year, and it was one of the ones that made me think I had to try and get chard back into rotation.
    QOTD2: getting back to the land man. growing a big garden like we did when I was a kid…my folks, and both sets of grand-parents always had super gardens. We finally have space, and have been working it for a couple of years now. Peas go in shortly.
    Nine dozen cold-hardy wine grape vines are ready for pick up in June…soil prep is under way now.

  • QOTD; I'm not going back, but sticking with quality. Well made and bring the THUNDER.

  • Gary, nice to see you warming up to oak! It's one of my favorite flavors in wine when it's done right.

    If you're looking for a seriously oaky Chardonnay, check out one of my favorites: Francis Coppola 2008 Chardonnay: http://thebottlereview.com/2010/03/30/wine-revi…

    QOTD: The Coppola is the ONLY wine I've bought multiple bottles of. I love it that much!

  • Got any suggestions for a $20 or less Bordeaux with serious body? Most of the ones I've had have been very watery and blah to me…I'm looking for something that smacks my tongue around.

  • larbear

    QOTD: I have begun drinking zinfandels, which were my first wines that I tried 30 years ago. Now I appreciate them in context. BTW ? I?m certifiably a non-lurker and I guess I really never was since I have left about 10 comments in the last two years. Thanks for changing the sign. Love and Respect.

  • elron

    Alright Gary, I broke down and watched with all this oak talk going around. I don't mind oak and I know you weren't feeling it for a long time. Cool, change of palate! Back to the beginnings. I hope you aren't messing with us. I don't think so though because you mentioned a midlife crisis as a possibility. Holy Moly whipper snapper! Possibly, you just got tired of the same kind of Chards and need a good change.

    Always wanted to try Neyers but I have not had a chance yet.

  • Lisa S

    Hi Gary,

    Love the Cali Chards… 07 was a great year.. The '08 are hit and miss.
    QOTD: I had an '07 Neyers Carneros last year and liked it..($22) because YOU tasted this on your show a year ago and liked it..(although not as oaky as the Neyers you tasted today).

  • QOTD: havn't had any of those. Also don't think i've drank wine long enough to have gone back to something, but am starting to like things I never did before. Typically i like the weird, intriguing wines, but never liked sparkling wine, which I'm now becoming a fan of

  • D_Rod

    QOTD: Haven't had these wines. If I've gone back to anything, it's been the borderline fruit-bomby Argentine reds from my early wine drinking days. Still bone-dry, but borderline bombs. Yum.

  • GFish

    Been getting into Burgundy whites so with you on the chardonnay but not so much the oakified side. There are to many memories of bad oaky chardonnays I've had in bars.

    QOTD – Went back to hometown on Long Island after moving to Chicago. Not the same place I remember growing up and never will be.

  • Nice Show GV! Kudos for having the guts to reverse your opinion when your palate changes. Mix it up a bit! I never equated oak with lipstick on a wine, more like a seasoning, not a cover up unless it is obnoxious (Troon zin from OR at $100, don't recall the vintage – I didn't know what was more offensive the price or the barrage of oak without the fruit.)

    QOTD 2: I started as a white wine drinker and changed to red after finally paying a few bucks more to find delicious fruit. But I haven't really changed back. However I've had the Newton unfiltered B4 about 2 or 3 yrs ago and liked it. But I haven't bought it, too $$!

    A chard that really impressed me this past summer was the 2002 Witness Tree winemaker's selection from the Williamette valley.

  • QOTD: After swearing off of White Castles two years ago (after it “tore up” my insides….don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about). I bought a sack of 10 the other week because of a coupon for $3.50 for the 10…..let's just say I recall why I promised myself I wouldn't eat them again…..

  • philanderson

    There was a time about ten years ago that I, too, enjoyed the butter bomb Chardonnays. Think Mer Solei. Then I wanted naked. Naked, naked, naked. I loved (and still do) the pure flavors of a stainless Chardonnay. I have recently, in the past six months started to enjoy just a bit of oak. I'm thinking a good balance isn't a bad thing to aim for. So, what I've come back to I haven't actually arrived back at the same point I was, but I find it interesting it is with the Chardonnay.

  • wpggord

    Nice to hear you say “sniffy sniff” again. Has it been a while, or am I so used to it I just haven't noticed?

  • Western Australia (cooler climate sites like Margaret River)

  • chateauplonk

    I feel ya with the “unnatural” craving for hedonistic Cali Chards. I love Burgundy, but for a while a couple of years ago I found myself craving the kind of Cali Chards I usually dissed. It was a brief but torrid love affair. My clothes were all stained with butter and my apartment reeked of toasted oak. My friends were worried about me. I started doubting my own palate but justified my new found pleasure like a recent convert to crack. It passed, but I still find myself in the mood for these kinds of wines occasionally. But you're right; they still have to have acid to be truly great.

  • chukheadted

    i keep coming back to 04/05 ribera del duero. lots of the wines remind me of bordeaux in a ripe vintage–like 05–but with friendly prices

  • TommyB

    I will never succumb to the butter bandit. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever.
    I do however, drink more Chardonnay than I ever used to. But it's still the clean minerally fresh stuff from Chile and Burgundy. I can still remember an incident at a friends house about 6 mths ago with an over-oaked S.African Chard that was so horrific that it's literally scarred me for life.

  • plcb

    My husband has never stopped loving the oaky chardonnays therefore we have them occasionally. However I continue to lean toward Vinho Verde, Rueda, white Rioja, dry Vouvray, crisp Italian whites. All of these and more when I'm not drinking red (we drink mostly red).

    PA has/had the Neyers and the Newton unfiltered. I haven't had them.

    QOTD: I was over Cabernet Sauvignon and I find myself wanting it every once in a while.

    Today April 3 is my 17th wedding anniversary. Red Burgundy will accompany dinner tonight.

  • plcb

    Tonight: Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Cote de Nuits-Villages Le Vaucrain

    We have several vintages of it.

  • elron

    Gotcha Castello!

    Alan, hurry back! Randi misses you and she’s starting to say things to Gary now! 😉 😉

  • Don't drink Bordeaux, drink Minervois or Cahors, (I know it's different grapes) but you'll find lots of Bordeaux, watery and mediocre at that price but $20 can get you something really good from a less know region.

  • Ch. Grand Bourdieu Prestige
    Ch. Ladouys (!!!)

    Try these, they're very worth their money imho!

  • corkscrew

    Have had the Neyers (very good) and Newton (hit or miss), nice scan of dark room by Michelle? QOTD-Merlot was not drinking it for a long time. http://www.winelx.com

  • Altboy97

    Good show and discussion about your changing preferences. I ready for some white wine again, must be Spring.

  • PurpleGrillz

    BEST all time food pairing with an oaky buttery chard is hands down prosciutto wrapped sweet potatoes.

    Parboil sweet potato wedges about 3/4″ thick then wrap them partially with 1 sage leaf each (just place the leaf along one of the sides) then wrap them completely with a layer of prosciutto like a cigar. Then bake those until the prosciutto turns golden/dark brown and really tightens up around the wedges and starts to sizzle. This will blow your mind.

  • rodolfochaves

    Hello Gray, I´m Sommelier in Brazil, I Love Your comments, very very important to person to profissional people, congratulation to you, thanks a lot.

  • lawrencecharles

    I'm still on break from the California “tropics” but received a Benzinger 2007 Sangiacommo as a wine club selection a while back and had a mini-epiphany. I'm hung up on Italian whites which demonstrate a wide range of obscure as well as more common varietals that offer the full spectrum of flavor and texture profiles. But damn, the Benzinger chard is in my head.

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