And a wet and windy afternoon to you all,

Simon’s Wine of the Week is Napa Cellar’s Chardonnay

I make no secret of my love of oaked Chardonnay. In fact, I’ve made it my unofficial mission to convert as many ABC’s (Anything But Chardonnay) to the delights of one of the world’s finest white grapes, especially if it’s spent a long time soaking up the flavours of an oak barrel. There’s many a time I’ve slipped an oaked Chardonnay into a blind tasting, just for that moment when an ABC asks me what the delicious thing is in their glass. Oh, imagine my delight when I tell them it’s Chardonnay. Imagine their face as it crumples into a quantum superposition of “I hate Chardonnay/this wine is delicious”. It brings me deep joy.

I’ve pontificated about Chardonnay many a time before on WOTW so I won’t go on about it too much, but it is responsible for France’s greatest dry white wines, as well as a fair few from the New World. Making a really good Chardonnay seems to be a rite of passage for many a winemaker, and us Chard-lovers are grateful for the fact.

Chardonnay comes in all shapes and sizes, from the crisp, lemon and apple scented wines of Chablis in Northern France, to the fat, butter infused, over-oaked bottles of the early 90’s, so there’s no one style. It’s simply a fact that when it’s good, it’s REALLY good.

And this week’s Wine of the Week is an exceptional example. Hailing from the vineyards of California’s most famous wine region, the Napa Valley, I tasted it again this whilst teaching WSET Level 1. As an example of an ‘Oaked New World Chardonnay’ as the specification asks for, it really is a benchmark. On the nose it’s got loads of lovely oak notes, with vanilla, coconut, sweet spice, and cedar all overlayed peach and apricot fruit with a touch of banana. The palate is nicely full-bodied with just enough acidity to balance the richness. Those lovely oaky notes dominate again with more vanilla, cedar and extra touches of barbecue, but there’s a beautiful fresh backbone with more peach and apricot and a zippy touch of honeydew melon.

This is an absolute must with roast chicken, that richness with fresh notes in the background is going to pair perfectly with a beautifully cooked broiler. That said I’ve got a couple of bottles at home and I’m thinking about pairing it with a creamy pasta dish, like Gemelli with Anchovies, Tomatoes and Mascarpone.

Have a great week,
Simon