What Is America's Benchmark Chardonnay?

WINE TALK
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Just curious.

2

Aubert?

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Mount Eden

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I am guessing there is some backstory here to which I am oblivious, but it strikes me as a wierd question.

Napa, Sonoma, Russian River Valley, Oregon, Washington, Nakamata Bench, Lake Michigan Shore, Niagara Escarpment? Unlike France where Chardonnay is limited to a relatively small area, I just can’t wrap my mind around even a region where Chardonnay could be benchmarked, let alone a single producer or label.


A.

5

Regardless of personal preference, Aubert would need to be near the top.

Personally I would throw out

Rhys
Arcadian
St Innocent

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+1

8

Not sure who issued that statement but if I look at benchmark Chards or think about benchmark chards:

I think Stony Hill, Mt Eden and some of the older players that really put CA Chard on the map: Ch Montelena, Mayacamas, etc.

Although some may argue the benchmark CA CHardonnay is that cougar juice called Rombauer…

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Ah then that makes sense coming from Jeff. If you equate Benchmark with “cult status” or RP scores then yeah you would have to say the big guns of Aubert, Marcassin, Kongsgaard, Peter Michael, et al. WIth the nod to Marcassin b/c they make smaller amounts are harder to get and do have a longer track record.

The 96 Marcassin Lorenzo Vyd Chard still remains one of the greatest CA Chardonnays I have ever consumed. At 10 years of age it was still amazing

11

Kalin is quite nice.

12

Way back in the day, it was probably Meridian and K-J.

But Benchmark is way too specific for so many styles produced.

For sales benchmark, definitely Rombauer.

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Stony Hill and Mt Eden for me.

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+2

“Benchmark” to me implies sustained quality over decades. You’re filtering out quite a few current “popular” wines by using this definition. I don’t really want to argue about the quality of Marcassin Chard, but I have no problems with asking how anyone can consider that a “benchmark” if it has only been produced for about 15 years.

15

Same here. How do you beat these two for long term track record?

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Alice White. It’s at least bottled here. neener

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[stirthepothal.gif]

Up for some pot stirring Bill?


I think Cali Chard means a lot of different things to a lot of people. The name itself is almost synonymous with a certain style of wine that we could probably sum up with the word Rombauer. But the old timers weren’t making wines that way so what do you call benchmark anyways?

I think if we are talking about wines that have stood the test of time and represent tradition and history of great California wines then Mt Eden and to a lesser extent Stony Hill come to mind. If you are talking about what still dominates the marketplace then I would think more along the lines of the Kistler/Aubert/Kongsgaard pool.

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And available in miniscule quantities to a select few.

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Exactly. One of the reasons for me not to debate quality, I’ve only had it once!

While Mount Eden Estate is not a huge production either, it has always been “hard to find” because it’s hard to sell! Almost nobody on the East Coast outside of our circles knows how good it is, so when retailers buy it the wine has a tendency to sit around unless you have the right customer for it. Thus, you don’t see it in many places. I’m sure there are a few others that I can’t think of, but I doubt that there are many CA Chardonnays that you could do a four-decade vertical on and still have wines drinking great. Stony Hill is certainly one of them in that conversation, though.

A quick Google search pulls up this http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/15/WIGSFEN5RD1.DTL