2012 Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay Trout Gulch Vineyard - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains (8/27/2014)
Served blind to an experienced tasting group, 5 of 6 people guessed Chablis, and two guessed Raveneau! The cut and purity were outstanding, and while the fruit was somewhat hidden at first, it came out with warmth and air. Overall this was full of lemons and minerals. I’m going to leave my remaining bottles for a while to see what happens.
Posted from CellarTracker
I really liked this wine. Agree with your description. I hadn’t realized the fruit form Trout Gulch was so good.
My TN from a couple of months ago, in a blind CA/Burg chardonnay tasting.
2012 Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay Trout Gulch Vineyard. I liked this considerably more than the group overall appears to have. This was intense and tightly coiled, with salted butter, lemon and hazelnuts. I think it’s very young and has upside with more air and/or bottle age. (How’s that for food and wine pairing – smoked trout salad with Trout Gulch!) I guessed Burgundy.
Interesting - I liked the '11 of this wine a lot but found the '12 a little thin - maybe I served it too cold.
Haven’t opened my 3-pack yet. Now I’m looking forward to it even more.
Nobody thought this wine was lacking in overall depth. It’s bright, but not thin.
After having my first bottle of this a few months ago, I bought 6 more, very excited to see where this goes with age.
Richard Alfaro took over the farming of trout gulch a few years back. Richard is nuts, compulsive, hyper energetic and a superb grape farmer. Before he took it over (and Duncan saw the right wine) trout gulch underperformed for decades. The drought also helps (it’s in a bit of a swale).
Thanks for the insight Ian. Richard is indeed a local character and a talented and great guy! He used to occasionally show up for the local brown bag wine dinners we used to have in Santa Cruz.
Has anyone tried the 2013
Thanks
Tasted the 2013 from barrel when visiting there in the springtime… it was great! A little bit richer and a little bit lighter on the acidity, but more fruit than the 2012. Definitely looking forward to the release.
Some of the previous wines from their did show that the site was special, even if they were a bit “rustic”. It’s great to see sites like that properly managed and sourced by serious winemakers.