We (wife, younger daughter, son and I) attended the Oregon Chardonnay Celebration on Saturday. Something like 63 Oregon wineries, each pouring one chard. Attendance was about as many people as the Allison Hotel could hold and it was sold out. Great opportunity to survey how chard in Oregon is developing. Overall, I think it is improving a lot, with some very good producers out there now. There is no way to taste through everybody’s offering. My daughter did some advance research to narrow down what we wanted to taste. Oak is not in our wheel house, so we tried to avoid those producers. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that…” A few producers’ web sites offered no information about their chardonnay cuvee, which was disappointing but we had enough other wineries to taste anyway. There was very limited ability to set down your glass and write a note about what you had just tasted. As a result, my notes were not extensive or, perhaps, useful for those who weren’t there, but…
Chardonnay that we really liked:
Arlyn 2017 Lionne Chardonnay Chehalem Mountains. Good acid, but not unbalanced
Bergstrom 2017 Sigrid Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Unanimous “likes,” good acid and fruit balance, especially on the front palate
Elton 2017 Elton Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills
Furioso Vineyards 2018 Chardonnay Yamhill-Carlton
Gothic Wine 2018 Ophelia Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Good nose, very good fruit, with a nice shot of acid on the finish. Probably our #2.
Morgen Long 2017 Chardonnay Willamette Valley. Mild flavors, very nice. He says that he’s trying to be Burgundian and I think he’s succeeding. Probably our #1 favorite. He only does chard.
Saffron Fields Vineyard 2017 Estate Chardonnay, Yamhill-Carlton. Good fruit, less acid, but served way too cold. improved with some warming in the glass.
Many of the wineries had their wine much too cold. We’re talking almost refrigerator temperatures, even a hour into the tasting. This definitely affected our impression of some wines. At a tasting like this, you simply do not have the opportunity to see how it will be when it has had the chance to open up.
00 Wines 2017 VGW Chardonnay, Willamette Valley. We had a very enjoyable previous experience with 00 and were looking forward to tasting it again. I won’t say we were disappointed but it had a bit of oak (not a lot) that we hadn’t noticed before. It did not stand out from the others and it was our first stop. The first is always in a tough spot because everything else gets compared to it. Not served as cold as some others but probably a bit colder than it should have been. I will want to revisit this one.
Goodfellow Family Cellars 2017 Durant Vineyard Chardonnay, Dundee Hills. This was a totally different wine than any other that we tasted. Petrol on the nose and front palate. The fruit comes through on the midpalate, however, with a long finish. Assuming this wasn’t a atypical bottle, this is another one to revisit. My wife “likes,” which is her seal of approval and I’m a smart enough husband to know that means I’m supposed to buy some.