Three Blind Chardonnays

There’s nothing like a blind tasting to eliminate subtle prejudices based on what you think a wine should taste like based on its producer or price.   If you're paying $100 for a bottle of Chateau Wonderful, it must be great, right?  Yet, we’ve been surprised in blind tastings by modestly priced, unfamiliar wines that shine against better-known competitors, or famous wines that fail to live up to their billing.

So, when the Wine Concepts team learned that Master of Wine Sandy Block was hosting a blind wine tasting dinner, how could we say no?  (The Master of Wine is perhaps the most respected wine credential in the world; less than 400 people worldwide have qualified.)   Sandy is the Vice President of Beverage Operations for Legal Sea Foods, and the tasting was held at Legal’s Park Plaza location in Boston.  It was a wonderful event in every respect.

Although there’s a lot of uncertainty in a blind tasting, one thing was certain – by the second or third flight, the focus was more on having fun than on any serious analysis. That of course, was the point – this was an opportunity for oenophiles to get together, compare notes and have some fun.   No spitting out these wines to preserve our palates - we enjoyed each of them with the accompanying food course.

So, let’s talk about the first flight, tasted while our senses were still sharp.   It consisted of three chardonnays (we, of course, had to figure that out ourselves) - one Old World and two New World.  The three wines were paired with a lemon caper sole with pasta and clam sauce.  Watching a group of wine lovers try to identify grape variety, appellation and the quality of each wine was, to say the least, pretty entertaining.  Generally, it seemed that the more confident the opinion, the more likely it was wrong!

• A White Burgundy from Meursault.   There’s no surprise here – Côte de Beaune is the benchmark against which all other Chardonnays are measured.   Meursault is the largest of the Côte d’Or white wine appellations, and is known for rich and concentrated wines, with nice acidity and minerality.
  • We tasted a 2015 Louis Latour Meursault Premier Cru “Chateau de Blagny” (about $75 retail).   Most of the tasters easily picked this out as the best, and most expensive, of the three wines in the flight.   It’s a very good wine, aged in oak for 8 – 10 months and with a pale yellow and gold color.  It had notes of pear, apple, almond and a touch of vanilla.  The wine had a nice, long finish.
  • Note that you may have more luck finding the comparably priced Latour Genevrières Premier Cru, or the Latour village-level Meursault for about $45.
• A Chardonnay from New York’s Finger Lakes region.  This region is known for producing some of the best quality Rieslings in the U.S., but also produces some good quality Chardonnays.
  • We tasted the 2014 Ravines Finger Lakes Chardonnay (about $20 retail).   Ravines is a highly regarded winery from an up-and-coming region.   This was a good wine, and a good value.   It had apple and pear notes, perhaps a touch of bitterness and noticeable minerality.   The wine is fermented and aged in oak barrels.
• A Chardonnay from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.   Most people think of Pinot Noir when they think of Willamette Valley, but there are some pretty nice Chardonnays made here.
  • We tasted a 2014 Shea Wine Cellars Willamette Valley Chardonnay “Shea Vineyard” (about $35 retail).  Shea is a highly regarded vineyards, and that shows in the quality of the wine.   Both on the nose and palate there were notes of peach, pear, and white flower aromas. This was a well-balanced wine, with some minerality and a long finish.

In the final analysis, you just can’t go wrong when a Master of Wine is selecting the wines for a tasting.

Cheers!