Our wine club got together for a blind tasting of Chardonnay wines from France and the rest of the world . This was another enlightening evening , with wines all over the place . No less than 3 expensive white Burgundies were pre-moxed . Some very highly praised wines were borderline undrinkable . And then you had the beautiful wines , yes , we had that too .
It was a blind tasting , mostly in duo’s , except the first and the last flight .We started with the least expensive wines , ended with the most expensive ones .
( first wine was what we call an in-drinker : some So2 on the nose , floral , tight with good length . Interesting wine , well made . 89/100 Domaine de Bargylus , Syria ! Yes , a Syrian wine . Chardonnay and sauvignon , incredible that they still make wine in this country . Not bad at all)
Flight 1
A1 : Smoky , too much for me . The wood gives a slightly burning finish . This may improve when decanted and aged . 88/100 = Boisson-Vadault 2011 Grand Charrons
A2 : floral , yummy wine , really elegant . 92/100 = Kumeu River Hunting Hill 2007 New Zealand chardonnay ( everybody except 1 taster preferred this wine )
Flight 2
B1 : beautiful spicy nose , a lot of wood but in an elegant way , classic burgundy .93/100 = Henri Boillot 2009 Clos de la Mouchere
B2 : sweet and creamy , cloying and annoying , undrinkable for me NR = Tiglat , Velich 2012 ( bizarre for a 60 Euro wine ) . Obviously , we all preferred Boillot
Flight 3
C1 : Deep yellow color , very sweet , very rich , over ripe , initially borderline oxidized , then completely oxidized NR ( Paul Pernot Batard Montrachet 2008 )
C2 : light and floral , tastes like Sauvignon , tight , nothing special 88/100 = Gaja & Rey 2013 chardonnay Italy .
Flight 4
D1 : strange nose of bubble gum and wood , vegetal and grassy , I find this undrinkable NR = Bodegas Catena Zapata White Bones chardonnay . ( I cannot understand that the Wine Advocate gives this 97 points … what was he smoking ? )
D2 : Classic Burgundy , in the style of Leflaive , young but delicious already 94/100 = 2007 Blain-Gagnard Batard Montrachet ( we all preferred this one… )
Flight 5
E1 : tight , mineral , long and intense , this is a top wine , light bodied so build en finesse . Delicious 95/100 = 2012 Penfolds Yattarna bin 144 Chardonnay . ( djeez , Australia makes top white Burgundy ; in another tasting , we were flabbergasted by Giaconda , now this one )
E2 : deep yellow… premox… = Pierre Morey Batard Montrachet 2005
Flight 6
F1 : way too sweet , I cannot drink this , caricatural , ludricous because I know this must cost well over $ 200 . NR = Aubert Sugar Shack 2012 ( yeah , sugar shack it is )
F2 : golden color , border line oxidized , terrible NR = 2008 Chevalier Montrachet Leflaive ( I had another bottle last month which was fantastic , this came from the same case… it’s a pure scandal )
Flight 7
G1 : super wine , tight and young but so much class . 97+ /100. = Montrachet 2010 Jadot
G2 : very rich wine , very ripe and imo a little too ripe , excellent but not great . It lacks freshness and minerality . California for sure 94/100 = Marcassin 2010 Marcassin Vineyard .
G3 : excellent wine , fat , forward , not my style but that must be the year . 95/100 = Henri Boillot 2005 Montrachet . ( all votes went to the Jadot ).
At the end of the tasting , we all voted for our personal top-3 wines . End score
- Montrachet Jadot 2010 21 points
- Penfolds Yattarna 2012 : 12 loints
- Henri Boillot Montrachet 2005 : 10 points
- Boillot Mouchere and Blain Gagnard Batard : 4 points .
So… we had no less than 8 wines that were undrinkable or pretty bad . They were all very expensive . Chardonnay remains a mine field .
Kudos to Neal Martin for opening my eyes to this delicious Kumeu Chardonnay from New Zealand . It costs 20 Euros here in Belgium , which is a steal .
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