DCWINOS put together a 2005-2007 Domestic Chardonnay tasting. We tasted 20 high end Chardonnays plus two ringers Kendall Jackson and SQN Hoodoo. In order to solely concentrate on assessing the quality of the domestic chardonnays, we didn’t include any Burgundies.
In attendance were Assaf P , Barry P, Doug D, James C, James N, Robb J, Greg O, Mark T, Mark E, Trip B, Kevin S.
A formal GJE format tasting once again was held at Bell’s wineshop on M street. All the wines were popped and poured. There were three or four wines that were served slightly too warm. Brian Leger once again provided a perfect setting, 22 Riedel Chiantis per person X 11. The tasting was conducted in single blind, ie we knew the roster.
Since I have the scoring sheets, other participants can only chime in on general impression for now.
Although, Justin B was unable to attend, he was kind enough to send a bottle of SQN Hoodoo.
Overall impression:
The 07 Kendall Jackson is not a bad wine. It showed very well against the stiff competition and no one was able to identify the wine. On the other hand, SQN was easy to pick, out of place and quite polarizing.
There were three or four wines with extreme bottle funk, cheesy, wet sox and etc but at least a couple of them got cleaner towards the end of the tasting. Although I suggested to the tasters to rate the wines between 70 to 100, I thought a couple wines were undrinkable.
I noticed the Auberts were very consistent, clean, concentrated and mineral. Based on this tasting, I dare say currently Auberts makes the best domestic Chardonnay.
We ordered mostly meat only pizzas from Luigi’s. There is no better grease pizza! Once again Luigi’s rocked!
Wine Roster
1 2007 Aubert Ritche
2 2007 Aubert Lauren
3 2005 Kistler McCrea
4 2005 Mount Eden Estate
5 2007 Rivers Marie Thieriot
6 2007 Peay Estate
7 2005 Peter Michael Indigene
8 2006 Kistler Cuvee Cathleen
9 2006 Kongsgaard Judge
10 2007 Varner Amphitheater
11 2007 Aubert Reuling
12 2006 Montelena
13 2006 SQN Hoodoo
14 2007 Lewis Reserve
15 2005 Rochioli Rachel’s
16 2005 Rochioli River Block
17 2005 Rhy
18 2005 Lauren
19 2005 Rochioli South River
20 2005 Morlet Ma Princess
21 2005 Dumol Chloe
22 2007 Kendall Jackson Vitner’s Reserve
Taster’s Average Score and Standard Deviation
T1 91.4 5.48
T2 90.9 7.00
T3 89.8 4.07
T4 88.4 7.01
T5 90.1 3.37
T6 85.4 3.83
T7 91.2 4.47
T8 88.7 4.42
T9 89.6 6.16
T10 90.6 2.70
T11 91.4 2.99
Results
Order Average Score High and Low Average STD
1 2007 Aubert Ritche 93.27 93.78 2.49
18 2005 Aubert Lauren 93.18 93.89 3.89
7 2005 Peter Michael Indigene 92.82 93.00 2.86
14 2007 Lewis Reserve 92.64 93.11 3.20
20 2005 Morlet Ma Princess 92.36 92.56 3.35
2 2007 Aubert Lauren 92.00 92.00 2.24
11 2007 Aubert Reuling 91.82 92.11 4.47
5 2007 Rivers Marie Thieriot 91.18 91.11 4.21
22 2007 Kendall Jackson Vitner’s Reserve 91.18 91.33 2.86
19 2005 Rochioli South River 91.09 91.33 2.17
21 2005 Dumol Chloe 90.45 90.78 4.13
17 2005 Rhy 90.09 90.00 5.01
12 2006 Montelena 90.00 90.22 2.79
6 2007 Peay Estate 89.91 90.22 4.06
9 2006 Kongsgaard Judge 89.90 89.50 4.09
16 2005 Rochioli River Block 89.45 89.67 4.50
4 2005 Mount Eden Estate 88.91 88.89 3.05
13 2006 SQN Hoodoo 88.20 89.00 6.53
10 2007 Varner Amphitheater 88.09 88.56 3.78
15 2005 Rochioli Rachel’s 84.18 84.44 6.23
8 2006 Kistler Cuvee Cathleen 83.55 84.00 4.93
3 2005 Kistler McCrea 80.40 80.75 6.85
Based on Placement
e.g. Top wine gets 5 pts, Second 3 pts, Third 1 pts, Bottom -2 pts, Second to the bottom -1 pts. If tied two wines ties for first they each get (5+3)/2=4 pts. If five third places 1/5=.2 pts etc.
2007 Aubert Reuling 12.0
2005 Peter Michael Indigene 11.8
2007 Aubert Lauren 11.0
2007 Rivers Marie Thieriot 10.3
2005 Lauren 9.2
2005 Morlet Ma Princess 8.5
2007 Kendall Jackson Vitner’s Reserve 8.0
2007 Aubert Ritche 7.9
2007 Lewis Reserve 5.2
2005 Mount Eden Estate 3.0
2005 Rhy 2.5
2005 Rochioli River Block 1.3
2007 Peay Estate 1.0
2006 Kongsgaard Judge 1.0
2005 Rochioli South River 0.0
2007 Varner Amphitheater -0.3
2006 Montelena -0.3
2005 Dumol Chloe -0.3
2005 Rochioli Rachel’s -3.0
2006 SQN Hoodoo -3.0
2006 Kistler Cuvee Cathleen -6.8
2005 Kistler McCrea -13.0
Individual Ratings
T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 STD
1 2007 Aubert Ritche 95 94 95 95 95 87 94 92 93 91 95 2.49
2 2007 Aubert Lauren 91 91 96 92 93 91 90 88 95 92 93 2.24
3 2005 Kistler McCrea 70 70 85 75 82 88 80 80 85 89 6.85
4 2005 Mount Eden Estate 89 85 90 85 89 85 93 88 90 94 90 3.05
5 2007 Rivers Marie Thieriot 92 92 93 88 88 85 98 93 85 93 96 4.21
6 2007 Peay Estate 91 90 94 90 90 83 94 83 94 93 87 4.06
7 2005 Peter Michael Indigene 96 94 90 95 91 88 96 89 95 94 93 2.86
8 2006 Kistler Cuvee Cathleen 88 87 81 76 86 84 85 80 75 90 87 4.93
9 2006 Kongsgaard Judge 90 98 92 92 88 85 85 93 86 90 4.09
10 2007 Varner Amphitheater 92 90 92 80 86 83 88 88 90 91 89 3.78
11 2007 Aubert Reuling 96 96 84 93 97 84 93 90 93 94 90 4.47
12 2006 Montelena 93 90 90 91 86 85 93 88 92 93 89 2.79
13 2006 SQN Hoodoo 92 88 92 78 89 95 90 75 90 93 6.53
14 2007 Lewis Reserve 95 96 92 94 92 95 95 85 93 89 93 3.20
15 2005 Rochioli Rachel’s 87 75 83 80 91 75 90 83 80 91 91 6.23
16 2005 Rochioli River Block 93 97 90 80 90 85 88 93 90 87 91 4.50
17 2005 Rhy 95 96 85 96 91 87 86 92 85 83 95 5.01
18 2005 Lauren 95 96 93 97 94 83 97 92 93 91 94 3.89
19 2005 Rochioli South River 93 93 91 92 90 86 92 91 94 90 90 2.17
20 2005 Morlet Ma Princess 95 98 92 90 93 85 91 94 92 91 95 3.35
21 2005 Dumol Chloe 94 94 86 95 91 83 90 93 94 90 85 4.13
22 2007 Kendall Jackson VR 88 90 90 90 91 86 94 95 95 91 93 2.86
STD 5.48 7.00 4.07 7.01 3.37 3.83 4.47 4.42 6.16 2.70 2.99
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