Louis Moreau Chablis 2008, Burgundy, France (£9.99 Marks & Spencer) Has the lean, keen green apple backbone you expect of Chablis, along with a pleasant nutty character, but it lacks the substance to stand up to the structure. OK, but not fine. B(-)
Louis Latour Mâcon-Lugny 2009, Burgundy, France (£8.99 Majestic – £7.99 when you buy two bottles) Has an exotic, almost Viognier-like peachiness, along with equally flesh notes of cream and hazelnuts. OK, but just a touch flabby – but blends rather nicely with the above Chablis! B-
Marquis de Pennautier Chardonnay ‘Terroirs d’Altitude’ 2008, Vin de Pays d’Oc, France (£8.99 Majestic) Quite weighty melon, peach and tropical fruit flavour, along with a clean fresh finish but is spoileded by slightly crude toasty/sawdusty oak, which doesn’t seem to fade with time. B-
Crossroads Chardonnay 2008, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand (£9.50 Mentzendorff) Rich, fleshy style, the fruit is nicely underplayed, blending to good effect with a complex mealy/yeasty edge from barrel-ageing, but just that bit too alcoholic for great success, with a slight butterscotch sweetness muddying the finish. B+
Botham Merrill Willis 25th Anniversary Chardonnay 2007, McLaren Vale/Coonawarra, Australia (£14.99 Christopher Piper – £2.50 from each bottle goes Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research) Simple, honest rather old-fashioned style, with that oily, tinned pinepapple/fruit cocktail syrup edge, hints of cream and honeysuckle edge , it’s OK, but lacks both the intensity and complexity of the Crossroads. B-
You’ll see I’ve given all these five wines bronze medal marks. However, the Crossroads with B+ stands well above the others with B(-) and B-. Translating these into a 100-point scale, that’s 86, compared with 83 and 82. Feel free to leave comments on my marking system (bit more about it on this page). It works for me, but do others find it confusing?
Domaines Brocard Petit Chablis Sainte Anne 2008 (£10.99 Oddbins) Bracing young wine, fresh and flinty, with creamy citrus fruit and a briny note to the finish. B+
Chablis Domaine des Manants 2008 (£10.79-£13.49 Balls Brothers, House of Townend, SH Jones, Grapevine (Cockermouth), Vineyard (Isle of Man), Weavers of Nottingham) Bigger, fleshier wine with some quite exotic guava, passionfruit and prach flavours, but still with a cool calm feel, and the rapier-like backbone. S-
Chablis Premier Cru Selection Domaines Brocard 2008 (£12.99 Sainsbury’s) Feels simple after the Boissonneuse. There’s still the keen backbone and citrus/apple flesh, along with a hint of cashew, but it lacks the extra mile. B+
Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2007 (£36.99-38.98 Balls Brothers, SH Jones, Weavers of Nottingham) The most backward of the sextet, but also the most powerful, with waxy lanolin notes, firm fleshy fruit, with again that tangy tension between the exotic (crystallised pineapple) and the tauter flavours of citrus and Grannie Smiths. Long minerally finish – this was splendid and more than held its own the day after with barbecued prawns. G-
Tesco Finest Sonoma County Chardonnay 2006 (£9.99 Tesco) Ripe and oaky, but not OTT in either respect, this has freshness and zing missing in virtually all similarly priced competitors, touches of pineapples and peaches, with mealy nuttiness and just the right amount of toasty oak. B+
Wild Boy Chardonnay 2008, Santa Barbara (£19 Latitude Wine, Berry Bros & Rudd) Leaner but finer than the Tesco wine, with cool, fresh flavours of ripe green apples, pears and stone-fruit, subtle and very lightly oaked, tasty now but looking good for the next 2-3 years. S(-)
Au Bon Climat Chardonnay 2008, Santa Barbara (£20.50 The Vineking, Slurp.co.uk, Reid Wines, Berry Bros & Rudd) More concentrated than the Wild Boy, but with a straighter spine. Similarly keen fruit flavours and subtle oak notes, but there’s more poise and minerality here. Very good, and with 5yrs+ of life ahead of it. S(+)
Louis Latour Marsannay Blanc 2007, Burgundy, France (£12.99–£14.99 Majestic Wine Warehouses; Ann et Vin, Newark; Flagship Wines, St Albans; Forth Wines, Scotland; Magnum Fine Wines, London; William Mason Fine Wines, Norwich; Duncan Murray Wines, Market Harborough; La Zouch, Ashby de la Zouch; The Southwell Vintner, Southwell) Not in the same class as the previous 2 Californians, there’s a pleasant green apple note, but it’s let down by a slightly cheesy note, and lacks the concentration to back it up. B
Montes Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Curicó, Chile (£6.50 www.qpwines.com) Clean and fresh, slight lime and lemon jelly, zippy and zesty, with a touch of river pebble, a simple but honest style. C+
Montes Limited Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Leyda, Chile (£9.40 www.qpwines.com) A mixture of lushness, warmer and rounder, a touch of green pepper, plum and ripe citrus, maybe has lost a little freshness, but still pretty tasty. B
Snoqualmie Chardonnay 2008, Columbia Valley, Washington State, USA (~£11.50 Stratford’s Wine Agencies) Heavy vanilla fudge, crystallised pineapple, oily, tinned fruit cocktail syrup, rather heavy and clumsy style, not very appealing. 0
Viña Mar Chardonnay Reserva 2008, Casablanca, Chile (£9.99 www.qpwines.com) A much fresher, fruitier wine with ripe apple, peach and plum, touches of cashew nut and a creamy oatmeal finish. B(+)
Blason de Bourgogne St Véran 2008 (£9.99 Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose) Quite lively aromas, with peach and citrus coming through strongly, but the wine is actually quite restrained. Simple but fresh and honest, nice drink and good value. B(+)
Domaine Eugénie Carrion Chablis 2008 (£10.95 fromvineyardsdirect.com) Starts of rather dumb, but then begins to uncurl and reveal flinty lime and green apple fruit, a vaguely nutty character and a sappy and refreshing finish. Best still to come. S-
Jean-François Protheau Rully 1er Cru ‘Gresigny’ 2007 (£14.95 fromvineyardsdirect.com) Healthy modern style, not afraid to show some oak, and with punchy peach and guava flesh reined in by crisp limey acidity. Young and quite full-bodied, not complex but tasty and well-made. S-
Louis Latour Meursault 1er Cru La Goutte d’Or 2001 (from £32.99 Ann et Vin, T Wright, Whole Foods Market Kensington, Partridges, Bablake Wines) Successful mix of tense, herb and fennel scented citrus and pineapple flavours with the hazelnutty, honey and honeysuckle notes of maturity, also a creamy oatmeal edge. Very tasty now, but still bags of life ahead of it – seems to get younger the longer it’s been opened. S+
Is the best-known white wine grape in the world improved with a dollop of Viognier? Not necessarily, although the results can be interesting…
Miguel Torres Cordillera Chardonnay 2008, Curico, Chile (£9.99 Grapevine, Nicholas Corke Fine Wines, Roberts & Speight) (15% Viognier in the blend) Gentle citrus, just-ripe peach and pear, it’s the crisp Chardonnay that is to the fore, with the Viognier just adding some plumpness. Good seafood wine with a slightly nutty finish. B
Houghton “The Bandit” Chardonnay/Viognier 2008, Western Australia (£8.99 – available in the UK from Feb 2010) Fuller, fatter and nuttier than the Torres, with the fleshy apricot edge of Viognier more prominent. But despite the rich peachy flavour, and the hints of butter and toasty oak, it’s still not TOO big, and your mouth is left entertained rather than overwhelmed. B+
Montes Alpha Chardonnay 2007, Casablanca, Chile (£10.99 Tesco, Waitrose) Quite big, fat and oily style, lots of tropical fruit cocktail flesh, big and buxom, tasty and does have a backbone of acidity but lacks subtlety. B
Leeuwin Estate Prelude Vineyards Chardonnay 2007, Margaret River, Western Australia (~£19 Domaine Direct, Beaconsfield Wine Cellars, Bentley’s Wine Merchants, Five Reasons Wine, Four Walls, Harrods, Highbury Vintners, John Gordons, Philglas & Swiggot, Richard Kihl, Theatre of Wine, Uncorked, Wimbledon Wine Cellar, Winedirect)
Classy wine, with an almost Mâcon style apple crumble and cream edge, and a gentle nutty edge to the tangy guava and citrus fruit. Holding it all togather is a thread of minerality and acidity, which keeps everything fresh, and should also prerserve it for another 3-4 years in the bottle should you witsh to keep it. S(-).
Domaine du Tariquet Côté Chardonnay/Sauvignon 2008, Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne, France Quite tangy and smoky, with peachy, almost Mâcon-like Chardonnay characters sitting nicely with the crispness of Sauvignon. B+
Domaine du Tariquet Chenin/Chardonnay 2008, Vin de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne, France Quite full with waxy per and peach fruit, but it’s held back by a rather stolid, a clay-like heaviness. Would have been better with more Chardonnay. C(+)
Argento Chardonnay 2009, Mendoza, Argentina (£5.99 Majestic) Some smoky oak on the nose, touch of vanilla fudge, then crisp, friendly melon, apple and peach flavours, with the oak in balance with the fruit. B
Hacienda El Espino ‘1707’ Barrel-Fermented Chadonnay 2007, Almansa, Spain (£8.99 The Real Wine Company) Soft, easy drinking wine, oak there but certainly not dominant, although the ageing has knocked the fresher edges of the pineapple chunk and cling peach flavours, leaving something akin to fruit cocktail syrup. B-
Clos du Val Carneros Chardonnay 2006, Napa Valley, California (£18.99 www.henningswine.co.uk) Nose of fudge and slightly sour butter. This is supposed to be from the cooler parts of Napa, but it’s a rather top-heavy, forced style, with obvious oak and malolactic fermentation (which gives the buttery edge), rather obvious tropical fruit flavours and a slightly metallic note on the finish. Not a success. B(-)
Sometimes you open hallowed bottles and they piss on your chips. Occasionally it’s because they’re corked, but most often the let-downs are because the wines just don’t live up to their billing – anyone seen a good Bob Dylan gig in the last 20 years? But tonight, I’m on a top end Aussie white that did exactly what it was supposed to do – and had me and the missus fighting over who was going to get the last glass.
Leeuwin Estate isn’t counted among the real pioneers of the Margaret River region in Western Australia, but it’s certainly not a newcomer. It’s now 30 years since the first vintage, and while there are a number of good wines in the Leeuwin range, it was the Art Series Chardonnay that first propelled the winery to fame, and which continues to fly the flag in commendable fashion. And tonight, the 2001** is singing. It started off a little firm and reserved, still with vestiges of oak, but then opened up to show a seductive, honeyed side, all the while with tender pear and pineapple fruit in centre stage. There’s also some nutty, leesy character, while underpinning it all is wonderfully zesty citrus acidity and clean minerally intent. Tasty, tasty wine that’s not trying to be white Burgundy, but which is just as complex and satisfying. If you’re lucky enough to have some left, it’s a wine still with plenty of life ahead of it. However, don’t be afraid to pull the cork now – and don’t be afraid to invite me along if you need a hand finishing off the bottle…
** Yes, for Robert and any others who were wondering, the Art Series 2001
