Hello and welcome to my weekly dig through the pile of wine samples that show up asking to be tasted. I’m pleased to bring you the latest installment of Vinography Unboxed, where I highlight some of the better bottles that have crossed my doorstep recently.
This week included a dollop of Chardonnay from here and there in California.
Let’s start with the pair from Dutton-Goldfield, which is celebrating their 25th Anniversary with redesigned labels for all their wines. What’s inside hasn’t changed much, thankfully, and both these wines are vibrant, brimming with energetic acidity, and nicely balanced. I think I give the edge just slightly to the Rued Vineyard Chardonnay, which has this mouthwatering quality that won’t quit. The Rued Vineyard, planted in 1969, is famous for having lent its name to a particular clone of Chardonnay that is now famous throughout California, not to mention producing great wines.
Dutton Goldfield also sent along a Pinot Noir as well that is brimming with fruit and worth seeking out.
Sticking with Sonoma for a moment, I’ve also got a Chardonnay to recommend from Flowers Winery on the Sonoma Coast. This wine has some interesting combination of ripe characteristics as well as some of the leaner crispness you’d expect from a coastal Chardonnay, but perhaps not quite as much as I would like.
Flowers also sent along their Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir which has excellent acidity and a nice combination of fresh berry and red apple skin flavors.
Back in the Chardonnay genre, I’ve got a bottling from William Cole Vineyards in Napa. William Cole is a Napa restoration story. The winery property dates to the 19th Century, with a stone winery building constructed in 1873. It had been shuttered since Prohibition when William and Jane Ballentine purchased it in 1999. After extensive rehabilitation and replanting, the couple opened their doors in 2004. Their Cuvée Jane Marie was developed in response to Jane’s love for white Burgundy, and has a nice balance of richness and zip. I just wish it came in a more earth-friendly bottle instead of one where the glass weighs more than the wine inside.
Next up, let’s go just a bit farther afield. I’ve been a fan of Turkish wines ever since I visited Turkish wine country in 2012. One of my favorite producers I met on that visit was Pa?aeli, and so I was very excited to get a box of their wines on my doorstep recently. One of the great things about Turkey are its many autochthonous grape varieties, and Pa?aeli tends to focus on those native grapes.
Yap?ncak is a variety from the European side of Turkey near Thrace. It’s a savory, richer wine, with a surprisingly dark color that might fool you into thinking it’s a skin-macerated orange wine, but it is not.
Çalkaras? grows in the western Turkish province of Denizli, and in particular a subregion of that province known as Çal. It is a red grape, but the first wine I want to share with you is a white wine made from this red grape, which was simply whole-cluster pressed and immediately removed from its skins. Like many such wines, it manages to walk this line between berry and citrus flavors which is quite intriguing. The rosé of Çalkaras? is also quite fun, and perhaps my favorite of the winery’s bottlings of this variety.
Lastly, I want to make sure to direct your attention to the winery’s bottling of the pale red grape Karasakiz, which makes a nearly rosé-like red wine that has verve, minerality, and wonderfully floral berry flavors.
Notes on all these below.
Tasting Notes
2022 Dutton-Goldfield “Rued Vineyard” Chardonnay, Green Valley, Sonoma, California
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of white flowers and lemon pith. In the mouth, bright salty flavors of lemon pith and lemon peel have an acidity that builds and builds in a way that makes you salivate as the lemon pith and a hint of green apple linger in the finish. 14.1% alcohol….
Source : https://www.vinography.com/2024/10/vinography-unboxed-week-of-9-29-24
