TN: Two Calif Chards...(short/boring)

Tried these two over the NY’s Holiday:

  1. Grow Chard RuhlVnyd/MtVeeder/NapaVlly (14.4%; Dijon clone 76) V&B by GrowWines/Calistoga 2009: Med.gold color; strong melony/lemony/Chard/ripe/bit honeyed light pencilly/oak some Mt.Veeder spicy/nutmeg fairly complex nose; bit soft strong melony/Chard/lemony/honeyed bit graham cracker/vanilla wafer some pencilly/oak/nutmeg rather rich/lush fairly complex flavor; very long bit soft fairly rich/lush some pencilly/nutmeg/Fr.oak strong ripe/melony/Chard/lemony some honeyed/vanilla wafer complex finish; a lovely fully-mature complex Chard that should probably be drunk up now.

  1. Boheme Chard TaylorRidgeVnyd/SonomaCoast (13.7%; WenteSlctn; Hrvstd: Sept 15 @ 0.57 tons/acre; 75 cs; www.BohemeWines.com) KurtBeitlerWines/Sebastapol 2015: Med.dark gold color; strong butterscotch/caramel/toasty/pencilly/Fr.oak ripe/melong/Chard/mango bit spicy/nutmeg quite fragrant bit complex nose; lightly tart quite rich/lush/full-bodied strong melony/ripe/Chard/mango/bit lemony some pencilly/butterscotch/Fr.oak some complex flavor; very long/lingering bit spicy/nutmeg some pencilly/Fr.oak/caramel strong ripe/melony/Chard/mango bit complex finish; a lovely ripe/melony oaked Chard that is showing some development and should go another few yrs.

A wee BloodyPulpit:

  1. GrowWines is the label of Lars Bjorkman and MollyHill. He’s winemaker at SaddlebackCllrs and she at SequoiaGroveWnry. I liked this Chard quite a lot. One of the better mature Chards I’ve had of late. It reminded me quite a lot of the old SpringMtn Chards of MikeRobins that were made by Chuck Ortman.
    Molly (no relation) is the daughter of Susan’s cousin, NancyHill. Which is how I first got to meet Molly. I, of course, have followed SequoiaGrove of Jim Allen from the very start. In fact, was responsible for Jim’s inspiration to get into the wine biz back in the late '70’s. MikeTrujillo was the winemaker at SG for many yrs, but I think Molly has lifted their wines to a whole nuther level. Solid NapaVlly Cabs at a reasonable price for NapaVlly.
    Tom

Hess has a nice Chardonnay planting up on Veeder, seems like an area better suited financially to Cab.

Thanks for the notes, Tom!
We’ve been enjoying the Taylor Chardonnay very much lately - only wish we had more Old Wente planted.
Shot of a 2019 cluster for you, picked October 9th: