2018 Failla Chardonnay Haynes Vineyard- USA, California, Napa Valley, Coombsville (8/11/2020)
Apple notes on the nose, almost like a Riesling. Then on to a bit of that and lemon cake/curd on palate. Pretty big style, but still very focused. A great mid and good finish, so somewhere between a lean steely Chablis and a more broad California style, I suppose. I detect very little of those medicinal notes. Read somewhere else that it had a decent amount of oak on it, but I honestly couldn’t tell. Wife loved it - thought it was one of the best. I did enjoy it as well, but the concrete finished Big Egg version (also from the Haynes vineyard) is even better in my opinion.
Something I can’t fault the wine for whatsoever, is that I’ve recently been kind of turned off by big floral/perfumed notes, and this has quite a bit of that going on. Almost like when you’re wife lights one of those scented candles and all you get is headache. But I can’t fault the wine for that, so will see past my own hangup in this department. Overall a great Chardonnay. Recommended. (92 pts.)
I liked the 2017 but bought the Hudson in 2018…and didn’t care for it. 2018 may be the last year for Hudson by Failla. My only criticism of Failla is that he’s doing so many wines now that it is hard to track them over time. Oregon is now in the mix, too. He even mentioned that on his weekly video last weekend.
I kind of agree it’s hard to keep track. Maybe the Oregon stuff should be under its own brand?
I really enjoy the wines overall, but have taken a little break from being on their list. Firstly, I have too much Pinot Noir sitting around and secondly, times are tough for everyone, so rather not pay $70 per bottle of wine right now (as nice as they might be).
