Wine & Spirits - October 2020 - 53

YEAR'S BEST
WILLAMETTE VALLEY
CHARDONNAYS

SONOMA VALLEY

Our blind panels tasted 105 Willamette Valley chardonnays over the past 12 months.
Patrick J. Comiskey, our critic for Oregon wines, rated 55 as exceptional (90+) and 22
as Best Buys. Subscribers can find a list of wines tasted, and all reviews, at
wineandspiritsmagazine.com.
521104

92 | Kunde

$30

2018 Sonoma Valley C. S. Ridge Vineyard Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^ This block at
Kunde's Sonoma Valley estate gets an early
start in the spring and ripens its fruit ahead
of the surrounding chardonnay. In 2018, it
produced a pale wine with cool flavors of kiwi
and honeydew melon. The wine is simple,
creamy and soft in the middle, with a lovely
earthy acidity that carries the wine to a clean
and savory finish. -J.G. (890 cases) §
521101

90 | Steele

$36

2018 Sonoma Valley Parmelee Hill Vineyard Chardonnay ^ A rich and creamy California style, this has the buttery feel of fresh
almonds and the crunch of green olives.
There's some freshness to it, like rain on
stones. Pour it with sautéed skate with green
olives. -J.G. (175 cases) §

NORTH COAST

CHE H ALEM MOUNTAINS

mentino-suggesting its facility with clams
on the half shell. (275 cases) §

521180

92 | Geodesy

$75

2018 Chehalem Mountains Chehalem
Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay ^ From
one of Geodesy's two Oregon vineyards, this
is built on caramelly oak and toasted lees. It
smells like a big wine, but instead it's bright
and lifted, the fleshy pineapple and white
peach spring-loaded by a taut acid structure.
Give it six months before uncorking it for a
tagine. (140 cases) §
521187

92 | J. Christopher

$45

2018 Chehalem Mountains Olenik Vineyards Chardonnay ^ Olenik Vineyards, a site
that contains both sedimentary and volcanic soils, grew a cool and brisk chardonnay
in 2018, with a live-wire tension to its acidity. After a day or two open, the wine gains
clarity, with a yuzu burst of flavor, fresh and
bracing as a cold stream. (75 cases) §
521152

91 | Bergström

$80

91 | Carabella

$32

2018 Chehalem Mountains Silice Chardonnay ^ Born from silica-rich sedimentary
soils of sandstone and shale, this is warm and
a touch curvy, with ripe, round bruised-pear
flavors. It has the balance for chicken paprikash. (65 cases) §
521262
521240

86 | Matthew Fritz

$13

2018 North Coast Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^
A sweet confection of caramel, pineapple and
mint, this is a soft, simple white to chill for
poolside drinking. -J.G. (4,000 cases) § n

2018 Chehalem Mountains Dijon Clones
Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^ With a twopronged attack of ripe apples and sultry
caramel flavors, this wine's fruit takes center
stage as it opens with exposure to air: pear
and pineapple spritzed with lemon and lime.
It's mouthwatering and flavorful, a crowdpleaser for a picnic. (225 cases) §
521143

90 | Alloro

$39

2018 Chehalem Mountains Estate Chardonnay ^ Smoky and a touch briny, with
scents of lemon-lime and whey, this lean
white has a firm grip and an oyster-shell tactility. It reminded one taster of Italian ver-

DUNDEE HILLS
521169

94 | Domaine
Drouhin Oregon

$75

93 | Domaine
Drouhin Oregon

$35

92 | Archery Summit

$65

2018 Dundee Hills Edition Limitée Chardonnay ^ Véronique Boss-Drouhin's annual
barrel selection from Drouhin's original
estate vineyard is at once opulent and pure
in 2018, its aromas a sumptuous meld of lees,
oak and golden apple. Those aromas suggest
a powerful wine, but instead it's gracefully
lean, the tree-fruit flavors brisk and mouthwatering. After a day, a green-herb savor
contributes a complex layer. Succulent and
substantial; for plank-roasted salmon. (125
cases) §
521168
2018 Dundee Hills Arthur Chardonnay
(Best Buy) ^ The Drouhins have been making chardonnay in Burgundy for many generations, and they often carry that influence
into the chardonnays from their two Oregon
properties. However, in 2018, the wines feel
unleashed, brash, juicy, exuberant and forward. Arthur, their largest production, has
scents of orange peel and litchi, its flavors
generous and juicy, its texture broad but
energetic. After a day, the fruit becomes
still more pronounced, more pineapple and
spiced apple, framed with judicious oak, a
procession that suggests this wine will have
more to say with some more cellar time.
(3,300 cases) §
521147
2018 Dundee Hills Chardonnay ^ Simple,
generous and wholly flavorful, this balances
caramelly oak, nutty lees and warm, fleshy
pear and nectarine fruit. It's all expressed
with a driving linear energy, and organized
by tart, lemony acidity. (233 cases) §
521161
WINE & SPIRITS

OCTOBER 2020

https://www.kunde.com/Wine-Shop/White-Wine http://www.wineandspiritsmagazine.com https://www.domainedrouhin.com/product/2017-chardonnay-arthur-duplicate/

Wine & Spirits - October 2020

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