UPS showed up around 7:30 PM last night. Disinfected the bottles and Pobega’d one after a brief chill in the fridge.
2018 Goodfellow Family Cellars Chardonnay Berserker Cuvée Whistling Ridge Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Ribbon Ridge (4/25/2020)
This wine is very clear in my Grassl Liberte glass despite this wine being unfiltered. The color is pale yellow with hints of gold. The nose immediately hits you with seashells, lime, and minerals. There are attractive hints of flint on day one that disappear on day two. This brings out the lime and minerals even more. This wine is elegant and mildly chiseled. I get lime and tart apple on the front of the palate. Subtle barrel notes appear, which rounds the mid-palate and plays well with the fruit. Bracing acidity is present throughout, buts it’s not dominant. This delicate but creamy mouthfeel and barrel character build into the long finish playing so nicely with the acid. The wine is pretty tight now but still so good. I have been tasting through the 2018’s and just had a 2018 Richards Cuvee. This wine is clearly knit from the same cloth. I wouldn’t expect Marcus to release SVD Berserker Cuvee that wasn’t top-notch. Not Disappointed. Serious QPR.
Tech: Four clones interplanted and dry-farmed on a ridge top in marine sedimentary soils. 12.1% ABV. Twenty-five cases produced—Diam 10 closure.
Thanks Sean. We really loved the barrel tasting before bottling. While most of our chardonnay elevage is done in larger vessels, there are always a few barriques as well. This one was coopered in 2006, so it’s quite well used but still doing very good work.
The hallmark of the 2018 vintage in the Willamette Valley is the balance between freshness of fruit, density without weight, and great acidity. There’s little screechiness in the back end of the wines, red or white, in 2018 yet pHs are surprisingly low.
Easily one of my very favorite vintages! And while I am biased, I think the wines bear this out.
Very excited, can’t wait to try this! Arrived a little late for me tonight since I had already opened a '17 Ribbon Ridge and it would need some time to chill but I will open one of these in the next week.
Yes!!! That’s what I keep getting across the 18’s. Goodfellow, Cameron, Walter Scott, and Vincent all seem to be showing this and I’m digging it. 17 was a classic and more chiseled vintage to me, but I can see 18’s getting consumed younger waiting for the 17’s to mature. The slightly riper fruit align with the acidity, and they just play well on the palate.
Dark cherry, raspberry, and a touch of black fruits enveloped by a fragrant bouquet of rose petals, cherry blossoms, kitchen cupboard spices, and sous bois. This wine is masculine on the palate, a nice comparison and complement to the light and elegant Whistling Ridge pinot noirs I’ve recently had from Marcus. Despite the presence of body and refined tannic structure, however, the wine still feels light on the palate.
On the palate, the flavors of dark cherry and red currant waltz with organic soil tones down the tongue towards the back of the throat, carrying with them a vibrant acidity. The finish is long, and shows a nice progression of red to black fruit notes (blackberry, black currant), baking spices, and saddle leather.
To my knowledge this is Marcus’ first vintage working with Lewman Vineyard. I believe it has the right balance of fruit (slightly riper than 2017), tannic structure, and acidity to age gracefully in the cellar. Will plan to open my next bottle after 10-12 years. (94 pts.)
