A Meursault from Oregon

A friend from my wine club was in Manhattan a few months ago and claimed he found a " cheap " chardonnay from Oregon that tasted like a Coche Dury . He may have been slightly " trashed " at that time but I thought it interestingly enough to find out .
I bought the HADEN FIG 2014 chardonnay and served it blind yesterday at our wine club . Everybody was sure it was a Meursault villages or premier cru . Some thought Coche , Roulot or even d’Auvenay , but I am not sure if this was because I brought the wine or if they really tasted it .
Anyway , I love it for it’s purity and character , nutty with great acidity , a true very nice Meursault .
We also tried the more expensive Haden Fig , Juliette ( Chardonnay ) . This is wine aged in barrels for an additional time . More expensive than the regular cuvee . We all preferred the cheaper version though .

Nice Herwig! Haden Fig wines are made by Erin Nuccio. It’s his own label. He bought and took over the Evesham Wood winery from Russ Raney in 2010. Russ, who started the operation in 1986, made some of the loveliest, most restrained (and yes Burgundian) Pinots and Chards in Oregon. Russ “retired” to the Languedoc and Erin continues the good work. Lots of exciting progress with Chardonnay in Oregon. Glad you enjoyed it, not to mention the affordability < $25.

RT

Erin is doing a tremendous job on both labels. Good shout out Herwig!

Nice. I have yet to try a Haden Fig. This is a nice shout out.

Jason

is this the $15 wine listed on w-s?

Nice to see this note. There are many really lovely Oregon Chardonnays out there that, served blind, will make you believe you have white burgundy in the glass.

Look for:
Crowley Four Winds
Cameron Clos Electrique or Abbey Ridge
Eyrie Reserve
A few Evening Land La Source
Walter Scott (all of Ken’s Chardonnays are excellent)

Come on Mr. Goodfellow. Don’t forget to check out Goodfellow Chardonnays.

Jason

I would throw in the Vincent Chardonnay to this mix.

On the lower end of the price spectrum, the 2015 Walter Scott La Combe Verte (Ken’s entry level Chardonnay) is a head turner. And, as Jason noted, Goodfellow Cellars needs to be added to this list.

I had a 2011 Marcassin Estate Chardonnay last night.

…and? Did it taste like Meursault? Or perhaps not so much? 2011 was a cool vintage in Cali, so inquiring minds want to know.

Yeah, not so much. And…we had a 2007 Antonin Guyon Meursaukt Les Charmes alongside.

One tasted like a beautiful Meursault. One did not. One bottle was finished. One was left while still half full (despite the tariff).

Yes , Alan , Haden Fig chardonnay is really inexpensive and a delicious wine .

Thank you Marcus for the lists , I will check it out . The real fun is that wines like Haden Fig are tasty AND inexpensive .

Marcassin is a wine we had a few times , it has not much resemblance to a Burgundy because I think it is slightly over ripe . It may resemble a Montrachet from a very hot vintage sometimes …

Not this one. I’ve had few of both but no similarities here.

There’s starting to be a LOT of really nice Chard from Oregon. Marcus listed some of my favorites and I will add:

Arterberry Maresh
Brickhouse
Winderlea

Bookmarking this thread for ideas when I visit Oregon later this year. Oregon Chard simply wasn’t on my radar, at least not to this extent. Thanks guys!

Forgive me for being a pedant, but Meursault is a commune in the Cote D’Or. It is not possible to have a Meursault from Oregon, any more than Gallo can make a hearty Burgundy in California or Korbel can make Champagne. This rubs me the wrong way. Sorry

Curmudgeon , the yang to Bob Fleming’s “varietal” yin. Herwig can use quotation marks maybe…

Thanks for the note, Herwig, I doubt I’ll be able to find any of it easily, but it’s good to know about in terms of its flavor and aromatic profile.

Haven’t loved some recent Marcassins, but a 1996 Hudson E Block Chard last year, with that much age on it (and perhaps different winemaking philosophy, etc.) was stunning and a very, very good ringer for a burgundian white.

sante,

Mike

Really Neal? You don’t find the analogy to be a useful shorthand? I did. Had he included the phrase “dead-ringer for…” would that make it okay? I think it’s particularly interesting here as the increase in chardonnay from Oregon means that a lot of people (myself included) have little OR chard experience, so hearing about style is very useful.

While Oregon’s burgeoning high quality Chardonnay scene (revolution seems like a poor choice of words these days) was the impetus and inspiration for our foray back into Chardonnay production my mindset with the fruit we are getting pulls me toward the wines from Meursault. Easy thing to say. Harder to accomplish obviously but a worthy site to set. While I don’t have tons of experience with the breadth of Oregon Chardonnay that I do with Pinot I have thought about it quite a bit and if there is a village that should provide a stylistic situation to shoot for I think it is Meursault. All/most of the other ones are pretty easy to rule out for a variety of reasons that are pretty easy to discern.