2012 Chalk Hill Chardonnay

2012 Chalk Hill Chardonnay 

Sonoma Coast – 100% Estate 

Retail:  $38

Winemaker: Not disclosed

 

The appearance of this Chardonnay is a wonderful light gold.  The wine is filtered and has nice purity and brightness which is what you expect from this grape variety.  The initial aromas are nuttiness and tree fruit.  I smelled toasted almonds and peaches.  The toasted almonds compliment the wine and its flavor is likely from sur lie aging (breakdown of the fermentation yeast added to the barrels).  Chalk Hill makes a distinguishable Chardonnay that is not buttery.  The wine has a creaminess quality.  I detected some oak in this wine which probably comes from the wine being in 40% new French oak barrels for seven months.  

 

The wine has a creamy, front of the mouth feel.  It is a bit less refined than expected.  We found the legs or tears of the wine to be fast moving which normally indicates lower alcohol but this Chardonnay is a full body high alcohol wine with a listed 14.5% alcohol content.  

 

We thought the wine has an acceptable balance and some structure to it.  It starts with a peach taste and ends with hints of pear. We didn’t find the vanilla finish as others did in their reviews of this wine. The winery tasting notes say that the wine drinker should find yellow apple, tropical fruit and toasty vanilla on the nose.  As for taste, there should be traces of guava, golden apples and pears.  We tried the wine at cellar temperature and also after warming up a bit but found no real difference in the aroma or taste.  Our preference was on the chilled side as being better.  The wine had more fruit flavors when colder and as it got warmer the more nut flavors became stronger.

 

We agree that this Chardonnay was full bodied.  The wine has an appropriate dry sweetness to it.  The tannins were thin and the alcohol feel was definitely not flat but not warm either.  We think you will find the wine on the refreshing side because of the creaminess and acidity which makes this a good Summer party wine with appetizers.  The wine unfortunately did not linger very long.  

 

http://www.chalkhill.com

Food pairing:  Cheese pizza, pulled pork, shellfish and scallops.

Vineyard source:  100% estate. Sonoma Coast Chardonnay comes from Foley owned vineyards throughout Sonoma County which they get fruit from Carneros, Chalk Hill, lower Sonoma Valley and the Alexander Valley.

Vineyard certification: 

Harvest dates:  September 18 - October 20, 2012

Vintage notes: 

Yeast: Not disclosed

Fermentation: 

Alcohol: 14.5%