TN: 2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill

2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill - USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills (8/24/2015)
After reading a number of comments comparing this to Chablis I was (not surprisingly) disappointed. The fruit is crisp, but there is a lack of minerality in the wine. It’s pretty much one note. Ultimately boring.

Posted from CellarTracker

I also found insufficient acidity. It wasn’t bad, just lacked a bit of verve. My take on LF has been that they are well made wines, moving CA chard in a direction that I am happy to see, but ultimately that I’m better off spending my money on French Chardonnay.

+1
From reading several notes on the boards I was led to expect a more “white burgundy” type of experience, while what I tasted was much more like a good CA chard experience, which is not something I seek out.
Much closer was my first bottle of Rhys alpine Chard I tried last weekend, the 08.

So far the Rhys Chardonnays are closer to hitting my sweet spot. Not for Chablis, but for a more complete Chardonnay experience. I’ve had one bottle of Littorai, and that was promising as well. I am still on the fence with Ceritas, but leaning yes.

Still have not tried Hardy’s D&R Chardonnay.

Chardonnays moved to the “no” pile for me are Liquid Farm, Arnot-Roberts and Wind Gap.

The 2011 hit that spot (white burg) pretty well with some new world flair. Seems it hasn’t been carried over into the warmer vintages. Too bad, hope it gets back to a leaner style in future because the fruit sources seem nice though not sure if Clos Pepe will be maintained.

I loved the LFWH '11 (great cut and minerals), liked the '12 (a bit bigger but less delineated than the '11), and haven’t tried the '13. I also really liked the '13 Arnot Roberts (both chards), so to each his own.

Cheers,
Warren

It does sound like the LF Chards to a change of style in 13. I have only had a limited sample size but the earlier ones I had displayed more cut and verve and less oak than the 13s. I don’t know if this was intentional or the vintage.

Wasn’t '11 a cool vintage overall across CA (not just Napa/Sonoma)? Does it make sense to assign the results of an uncharacteristic year to a winery’s style?

Your sentiments are not exactly mirrored by the rest of the Cellartracker notes, as you mentioned. There are a couple of less than stellar reviews, but is it possible you had an off bottle?

“tangy, with lots of mineral”
“There were no minerals present.”
“refreshing finish built on green apple, kiwi and mineral.”
“fairly mineral driven finish”
“great minerality and lemon zest. I loved the acid balance.”
“Not much extraction or minerality here”

Clearly, people can’t agree on what mineral means, which is a known issue IMHO.

Regardless of the meaning of mineral it was a boring wine.

These are almost precisely my conclusions from my attempt to explore California Chard to a greater extent. I’ve tried the D&R Chard and I like it a lot, but it is not at all similar to White Burgundy. Just a gentle, balanced, refreshing Chardonnay that doesn’t shout.

I’m with David. When I’ve tasted blindly (twice) the LF bottles didn’t distinguish themselves, and I’ve had other mediocre bottles non-blind. A couple of good ones, too, but way too much inconsistency to justify the price.

Don’t you mean:

“very good/excellent, and a good QPR”
“good depth despite a lightweight, crystalline style”
“Beautiful! Well balanced.”
“I love this wine.”

? newhere

I haven’t had it yet, but also between the 2011/2012’s from LF, I haven’t had one I didn’t enjoy considerably. This note, however, compares to yours and maybe also hints at an off bottle:

“A prior bottle of this wine tasted light to the point of anonymity.”

I have a few of these and am torn whether to drink one now, or give it a chance to show better if it is doing this now.

I’m glad I’m not an expert like the rest of you.

My notes from earlier in the month. After drinking the flagship Golden Slope earlier in the year, I knew to expect something good with the White Hill. Oh boy! This was the best California chard I’ve had since a Freeman Akiko a couple of years back. The nose was intoxicating. This is a full bodied, elegant, and graceful wine. Good balance. There were no minerals present. A nice, pardon the pun, golden color. If you like your chards with butter and oak, look elsewhere. None of that was present here. At the Berserker day price, this is great QPR. Glad I have another bottle left. Drink now or hold

Bolded for emphasis. This is, me thinks, part of the disconnect. Important to strip the wine from the hype.

Thread drift, but I would encourage you guys to try some of the Chardonnays coming from the Willamette Valley. Oregon, IMHO, does not produce Chablis-like wines but my favorites definitely remind me of France more than California.

Wines I have tasted and highly recommend:

Crowley-particularly the Four Winds bottling.

Walter Scott, Cuvée Anne

Cameron, Abbey Ridge

Eyrie, Reserve

Brickhouse

Full disclosure, I am ITB in Oregon(Matello/Goodfellow Family Cellars and I make 2 Chardonnays currently). White Burgundy is what I always felt Chardonnay was about. I drink a fair amount of it still but have genuinely become a fan of Oregon Chardonnay, both my own and the ones listed above.
There are quite a few more good/very good/great wines than the set I listed but the producers on my list are smaller producers that I believe, along with myself, are dedicated to an expression of Chardonnay that, based upon your comments, most of you would enjoy quite a bit.
I have had a few comparisons of my 2012 Chardonnays to France but for my own two cents, 2012s have more flesh than the newly released 2013s. The 2013s have the textural intensity combined with electric acidity, and deeper less fruit oriented flavors than the 2012s.

Anyway, this is just a suggestion since it
seems like a fair number of posters had issues with lack of acidity in the LF.

I’ve had 2 bottles of the 2013 White Hill and both featured plenty of acidity and minerals. As did the 2012. I haven’t had the 2011.

Daniel, I’ve had two as well and found them both flat, lacking in acid or minerals. Detected too much oak on the second as well, but I’m rather sensitive. Went into this wanting to like it based on the Chablis-in-Cali hype. Also, the people there at LF were/are great to work with and that made me want to like it even more. It made me understand a bit why some people seem to love CA wines more because of the relationships they can form with the people making the wines. For me though, the wines have to stand on their own.

Also had the la Hermana, which was a fatter wine but I may have liked more for what it was (as opposed to what the WH wasn’t) and the rose, which paled next to a Gros Nore Bandol rose, but was really quite nice on its own.

Michael, as they say “to each his own.” As an example, I find aged Donnhoffs to be flat, flabby and boring (a 2005 Selbach-Oster Auslese I had last night was nothing short of spectacular.) Hell, most go down the drain. David Bueker does not. He relentlessly mocks that view and yet has this analysis of LF. Which is just fine. I have no problem with that; it’s just very interesting to me. Although I do crave acidity and minerals in my whites I do not look for a chablis-like experience in anything from California. To state maybe the obvious I do find the LF style to be fuller than say Rhys. That said my favorite chardonnay of this summer (admittedly at least partly because of the ridiculous QPR) has been the 2013 Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara.

+1 on the ridic QPR of ABC (for my specific taste). I pop into local wine stores at times just to see if they brought in more of their basic Chard or PN. They are now extremely hard to find anywhere on the shelves.