Top Secret!! Pre Release Review!!!!!
I always enjoy tasting and reviewing a wine prior to the general public. So I have another. When Terry and I went to Muscedere’s open house a few weeks ago Rob told us about his new Chardonnay. We were waiting for some and since they ran out of bottled Pinot Noir(at the open house) we had a reason to go back.
While we bought a couple of bottles of Pinot (double gold last Thursday at the All Canadians….Congrats!!!!!). We were able to try some Chardonnay and here is the review of what we had. At the winery we had a sample right from the tank. Then we had some with some cheese and bread with the family. All I can say is that we were quite impressed.
Chardonnay is a classic French grape which hails from Burgundy (the Pinot Noir people). Now when the King banned Gamay a few centuries ago, he let Chardonnay stay which was a good thing. Poor Chardonnay has taken a few hits lately. Too much oak done by those ‘blokes’ from down-under and some just real bad product. Done well its very good but bad is bad. Those citrus notes get fugly.
So here we are at Muscedere. No hills like Burgundy, hot days, clay not gravel…..so what do we get????? Will STP get a new source for carb cleaner??? NO NO NO NO!!!! This stuff is great and I drank my only bottle. I am distressed.
We had it last night with dinner. I tried to make Gordon Ramsay’s lobster pasta. We didn’t feel like making fresh pasta (the yute was at band camp so no child labour to turn the pasta machine) so we chose a real good egg tagliatelle from Italy. The lobsters were canners...frozen...oh my god I can feel the yelling now...f********** frozen lobsters….are you f********* trying to f******** poison me!!!!!! Bloody Hell!!!!!!!! Are you just too f********* stupid or lazy to use f********** dried f************ pasta in my f*********** beautiful recipe!!!!! You should be f************ bloody happy that I let you read my f*********** book!!!!! Oh yes we are doing crab cakes tonight and OMG we have high end chilled canned claw meat….Don’t let Gordo know.
Anyhow it follows my mantra of simple but good ingredients. If I had the proper ingredients and a minimal skill level it would have been stunning. It was very mild and let the lobster thru. Classy, I guess thats why he has more Michelin Stars than Elizabeth Taylor had ex-husbands.
Music was none...oops….had Kitchen Nightmares on…..we really like that show.
Now to the wine……..It had a nice light shine and color. I don’t want to go too far there as the final product may be different...a little maybe...maybe a wee bit clearer. This wine has legs...good viscosity and just came down the glass so nicely.
The nose was strong but not overpowering. This one is unoaked so no beavers need apply. What we get is pineapple….lots of pineapple...I don’t like pineapple but I like the smell of it and green apples...Granny Smiths...fresh off the tree and papaya. Very classy nose.
Now the taste….. I won’t tell you because I want it all. That’s it - - review done. Ok.. I’ll let you have some too. The taste is wonderful with good mouth feel. It is tangy with good acid content. It isn’t overbearing but will allow this wine to stand up well to food. In the French way, I think trout, lightly(I mean lightly) dusted in flour then pan fried in real butter then capers and white wine. It has the finish to cut through the butter.
Oopps, I must be hungry. I get loads of pineapple, green apple and papaya, just like the nose. I like this and baby just look at the vines...they are still babies and man the will just keep getting better...I can’t wait.
This wine is more old school to me than other New World Chardonnays. It doesn’t have the mineral taste but the vines are young, but stylistically I think it is that way. It just tastes good to me. Nicely balanced crisp tasty this should be a real winner for them.
I just want some more.
PS: Rob and Fab...get bottling this stuff soon!!!!!! I know you two are busy, but Terry and I will work for wine if you need bottling staff!!! This wine is too good to keep off the shelf.
