Wine & Spirits - October 2019 - 52

YEAR'S BEST US CHARDONNAYS
OREG O N
517685

87 | Smith & Perry

$15

2018 Oregon Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^
Scents of lemon and rose introduce this lean,
floral chardonnay, with pointed and mouthwatering citrus flavors. (2,329 cases) -P.J.C.

93 | Walter Scott

EOL A-AMITY HILLS

92 | Adelsheim
$75

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Eola Springs Vineyard Chardonnay ^ One of two Oregon bottlings from Geodesy recommended here (see
also the Chehalem Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay), this is bright and flinty, with sweet
and succulent golden-apple flavors giving
it a sense of depth and sunny openness. It
feels weighty but fresh, the finish bearing a
leesy savor that will make a firm planting for
sweetbreads. (47 cases) -P.J.C.
516763

93 | Lavinea

2016 Chehalem Mountains Staking Claim
Chardonnay ^ Toasty and lifted, this has a
sleek Chablis-like angularity, with lemondrop and hazelnut scents and flavors that
feel at once generous and restrained. (797
cases) -P.J.C.

515968

92 | Authentique

518175

$55

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Estate Chardonnay ^
Lingua Franca's chardonnays often offer a
pitched battle between the savory and the
fruity, both elements hovering over each
other in wines that feel like they're years
from their finish line. This bottling, from
WINE & SPIRITS

OCTOBER 2019

$50

2016 Eola-Amity Hills Eola Springs Vineyard Mendoza Block Chardonnay ^ This
comes from a vineyard planted in 1972 to
the Mendoza clone, known for a "hens and
chicks" fruit set-ripe and underripe berries, side by side. It gives a wine that tastes
both ripe and unripe, citric and malic. It's all
lemon and green apple, stridently crisp in the
end, lean and ready for roast monkfish, Provençal style. (W&S 4/19; 175 cases) -P.J.C.
517804

92 | Bethel Heights

$36

$60

2016 Eola-Amity Hills Elton Vineyard
Chardonnay ^ From a 1983 planting of two
clones of chardonnay, this savory white is
leesy, dense and structured, with scents of
roast almond and bread crust surrounding a
focused, tart pear core of fruit. It carries itself
with poise, tight and firm, with a dusty mineral texture that may remind you of Chablis.
(W&S 8/19; 303 cases) -P.J.C.

93 | Lingua Franca

$65

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Seven Springs
Vineyard Chardonnay ^ Ken Pahlow and
Erica Landon get a small portion of fruit from
Evening Land for this bottling. The wine
reads like Seven Springs in its dense minerality, scents of lime leaf and flint leading into
rich pear and dried pineapple flavors. Tight
and compact, with a Meyer-lemon lift of acid,
it's bound to improve with a year in the cellar. (235 cases) -P.J.C.
517476

518044

93 | Geodesy

the estate adjacent to Seven Springs, smells
nutty and bright, with a smoked-apple
tension. The flavors are rich, mouthwatering
and delicious, with lush pineapple grounded
by lees and a soft mineral grip, the acidity
cradling the finish, hinting at a long life. (350
cases) -P.J.C.
517407

92 | Walter Scott

$55

91 | Archery Summit

$48

90 | Van Duzer

$36

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Justice Vineyard
Chardonnay ^ Distant at first, with scents of
matchsticks and almond skin, this becomes
crisp and angular with air, offering notes of
hoppy lees, fresh-cut apples and delicate
green herbs. It's juicy, willowy and lean; for
whitefish. (195 cases) -P.J.C.
517530
2017 Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay ^ From
a vineyard adjacent to Seven Springs, this
compact chardonnay starts out with scents
of toasted lees and pineapple, giving way to
a smoky, rich suite of fruit flavor, like lightly
grilled chunks of pineapple and pear. Those
flavors are shored up quickly by a finish so
tart and mineral you'll wonder where the
richness went. A performance worthy of
roast chicken. (1,000 cases) -P.J.C.
517683
2017 Eola-Amity Hills Bieze Vineyard
Chardonnay ^ Scents of lime and lemon create a thrilling, jittery tension against this
wine's lilting citrus flavors and silty mineral
tang. It could use a few months in the cellar
to smooth out its edges. (283 cases) -P.J.C.

WILL AMETTE VALLEY

$32

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Estate Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^ Oak imprints this wine with
a nutty, caramel scent, which gives way after
a day to ethereal flavors of green apple and
lime, salty and lifted. The texture is firm,
richer than expected, infused with a pannacotta creaminess. (950 cases) -P.J.C.
517803

92 | Bethel Heights

elegance to this chardonnay, from a windswept vineyard planted in 1999. Composed
as much of dried fruits as fresh, the flavors
have a textural breadth and density that
bring to mind roasted or grilled peach and
apple, and a smoky, nutty, leesy background.
The wine is elegant and composed, with just
enough oak to frame it for butter-roasted
salmon. (165 cases) -P.J.C.
517402

$56

2017 Eola-Amity Hills Justice Vineyard
Chardonnay ^ There's a sort of old-school

517824

95 | Bergström

$110

2017 Willamette Valley Sigrid Chardonnay ^ In Sigrid, Bergström's flagship chardonnay, Josh Bergström manages to pack his
wine with flavor but no excess weight. From
three of his biodynamically farmed vineyards, the wine starts out high-toned and
tense, with an angular structure and bright,

https://www.geodesywine.com/wines https://www.authentiquewinecellars.com/store/p39/2016_AUTHENTIQUE_Eola_Springs_Vineyard_Chardonnay.html https://wineshop.bergstromwines.com/index.cfm?method=storeproducts.showdrilldown&productid=DEBBB62D-E8F1-4501-A607-1CA8914B9479&ProductCategoryID=EBDDCB59-D4AC-CC9C-58B0-2C9C654839CC&WineryID=1E4EB6D1-AD19-D545-B354-03D0956A116F&WineTypeID=&ProductType=&wineVarietalID=&wineRegionID=&vintage=&lowprice=&highPrice=&WineBrandID=&WineAppellationID=&lowletter=&highletter=&OrderBy=PXPC.DisplayOrder%20Asc,%20P.ProductName%20ASC&ShippingState=OR https://www.linguafranca.wine/Wines/All-Wines

Wine & Spirits - October 2019

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