Marcus was very generous to to send me some extra bottles with my BD purchase to help me understand some of the great wines coming out of Oregon.
This was pale gold and very clear in the glass. I got some light lemon zest on the nose, with a bit of hay. No oak or butter here, we’re definitely not in CA.
My 2 year old daughter told me the wine smelled like oranges. She said it tasted like rocks, which I guess speaks to minerality. Future somm?
As for me, I did get a nice core of acidity on the palate with some chalky minerality. It’s restrained and light bodied yet lithe and lively on the palate.
The finish is long with no sense of heat. Not overly complex yet beautiful.
This is a very refreshing wine that’s clearly from a cool climate, and makes me immediately regret not purchasing the BD chard. This is a very different wine than our house chard (PYCM BB) but superb. I don’t get any of the heavily reductive notes you’d get from PYCM but get the transparency and a little more energy. This wine is light on its feet and easy to drink.
It did improve over the course of 1-2 hours open. I’d post day 2 notes, but we finished the bottle, oh well!
A little longer than my usual notes but hopefully informative!
I am still getting my head wrapped around the Goodfellow Chardonnays, but the quality is definitely there. I think I need to reset all my Chardonnay evaluation meters, and just start fresh. I keep bumping into what I think they should be, which is hindering my understanding of what they are.
It’s weird that I don’t have the same issue with the Pinot Noirs, despite their distinctive and evocative style.
I agree; I would have a hard time telling you where this was from, blind, but that’s possibly due to me unfamiliarity with Oregon. I definitely know it’s not from CA, meursault or corton. It doesn’t have the density or concentration of most 1er or GC, but if someone told me it was from a lieu dit in chassagne, puligny, or st aubin, I wouldn’t argue. Wherever it’s from, it’s delicious.
Interesting. I am not so familiar with Oregon Chardonnay either. I have noticed a lot of matchstick in Chards from Goodfellow, Vincent and Division (the three producers I am most familiar with), which has me a bit confounded.
I dont have a ton of experience with OR Chardonnay, but have liked the handful I’ve tried from Goodfellow. And agreeing with David, there is a heady amount of matchstick in 17, 18 Ribbon Ridge and Durant, from my experience. I enjoy the wines a good bit.
Great note Michael! I’ve been enjoying the ‘18 Goodfellow Chardonnay Ribbon Ridge over several days and didn’t find much reductive match stick quality to it. Haven’t had the WV to be fair.
My own wines are on the lees in barrel for 12-18 months before bottling unfiltered. They don’t see time in stainless to amp up the reductive qualities. Instead they are in cask the whole time, on lees, no stirring, with the goal being preservation of freshness rather than trying for reduction.
Oregon Chardonnay indeed has a distinction that I myself am only becoming familiar with. So much matters with picking time, and then winemaking. But in deft hands, we seem to straddle the line between CA and France. Not usually so opulent/heavy as CA can be, but hardly lacking richness. Usually great acidity more on the lines of the old world but again you must pick the grapes rare rather than well done. A couple years back my burgundy group was blind tasting a bunch of Puligny and chassagne and there was a ringer and I confidently annnouced, this is Burgundy, no way it’s from the new world. Was ‘16 Walter Scott Cuvee Anne from my own neighborhood. Apparently I still have a lot to learn lol!
I’ve drank a lot of Marcus’ Chardonnay since 2011 vintage (though not nearly as much as some other board members), but almost entirely Richard’s Cuvee and Durant Vineyard. I typically find the matchstick much more in the Richard’s Cuvee than the Durant, and don’t recall it in the WV. It’s prominence tends to vary between vintages. My impression is it was more prominent from 2012-2016, and less prominent since. YMMV.
I would agree with this. I like a little reduction in chardonnay to maintain a savory expression, but have tried to keep a light touch the past few years. The levels wax and wane as the wines age, with a few moving up a bit beyond my goals(17 Ribbon Ridge) but mostly being in the background with 2016-2018. 2019 as a vintage is very light as well, and some of my favorite Chardonnays.
I’m really glad you enjoyed the Chardonnay Michael.
Often when I have done comparisons of my Chardonnays and white Burgundy there is a significant weight difference between them. This didn’t seem to be the case with Rick Allen’s blind tasting a few weeks back, but I feel Oregon Chardonnay has a very clean profile, and a weightless aspect compared to Burgundy. For my wines, I also really try hard to pick right on the line where fruit flavors are green/yellow rather than yellow/gold (more Federspiel than Smaragd).
Again, I’m really glad you liked the wine. There’s a lot of really delicious Chardonnays in this stype being made here right now.
Marcus your description of “weightless” as it relates to Oregon Chards including yours resonates with me. That doesn’t mean lacking dimension by any means though.
That being said I have tried some OR chards which have a weighty robe around a more weightless frame - e.g., Arterberry Maresh Maresh Chard - if that makes sense.
Karl, that does make quite a bit of sense. Even with my own wines, I feel they have excellent tone and a richness, but without the structural weight that might be expected.
Overall, I’m a fan of the flinty reduction in Chardonnays if done right. But I have found that leaving one of these in the decanter overnight will do wonders for toning down the reduction and let the fruit bloom. YMMV
More so I think these are wound tight for aging. My Oregon chardonnay cellar is only 5 years deep but those earlier wines have been drinking well the last few months. A 14 Goodfellow Durant, 16 Twill WV, and a 16 Vincent, and 15 Arterberry Maresh lately were aging really nicely and show IMO quite different than their youthful selves. Will see how the experiment turns out.
I get easily distracted by the flinty character so I prefer it to be subtle, like clove or nutmeg if you get my drift. But top chard houses like Walter Scott and Goodfellow seem to be experimenting a bit with the reductive notes to perhaps make even more age worthy and interesting wines. I applaud the effort and look forward to some old bones.
