tasting / savor / Oregon Chardonnay ANTHONY ROSE’S VERDICT
Overall, I found this a rather mixed tasting, with some excellent high-quality Chardonnays crafted in a variety of styles rubbing shoulders with perhaps too many unappealing examples. The best are wines with an attractive purity and concentration of aroma and of flavor, which seem comfortable in their own skin and are made by winemakers with the confidence of knowing what they are trying to achieve and, for the most part, are achieving it. I wouldn’t say that subregional variation
was quite as clear-cut to me as the difference in styles in Burgundy, for example, as between the warmer Mâconnais and cooler Chablis. But having said that, there were clear differences based on climate, and the overall style was perhaps more Burgundian than many a New World Chardonnay, with an echo in the wines we tasted of warmer, riper fruit on the one hand and cooler, crisper fruit on the other.
TOP WINES 00 Wines VGW Chardonnay 2017 94
Adelsheim Staking Claim Chardonnay Chehalem Mountains Willamette Valley 2019 94 Antica Terra Aequorin Chardonnay 2019 94 Lingua Franca Sisters Chardonnay 2019 94
Morgen Long Willamette Valley Chardonnay 2019 94
Walter Scott X Novo Vineyard Chardonnay 2019 94
Beaux Frères Willamette Valley Chardonnay 2020 93
Crowley Four Winds Chardonnay Willamette Valley 2019 93
Domaine Drouhin Arthur Chardonnay Dundee Hills Willamette Valley 2020 93
good concentration of flavor, too. A tight, lemony finish. | 89
Flaneur Wines Bon Vivant Chardonnay 2019 [Chehalem Mountains Willamette Valley] (13.2% ABV)
| 91
AJ | Bright mid-gold, with silver glints. Angelica and pear scents; attractive and articulate, particularly with air—and a slightly different aromatic repertoire from most of its peers. Vivid and full; as on the aromas, a wealth of pungent fruit in concentrated, pure style. Not the most soigné wine in the tasting: direct, almost artless, but very good raw materials here. Really worth a look. | 92 AR | Pale lemon in colo. The aromas of this dry white hint at toffee apple and smoke without quite carrying it off. In the glass, the wine shows some attractive features, juicy apple flavors, a hint of smoky nuttiness from oak, and pleasantly textured fresh fruit in a balanced package that’s satisfying without exactly thrilling. | 89 DW | Restrained but clean and vibrant; vivid acidity and fruit in a clean-cut, clean-lined, citrus style. Just
214 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023
a hint of some fresh almond-like nuttiness and a satisfying, mouthwatering finish. | 92
Grochau Cellars Chardonnay Brick House Vineyard Ribbon Ridge 2017 (12.8% ABV)
| 91
AJ | Pale, bright silver-gold, with silver glints. Sappy, sweet, creamy, and fresh: very attractive scents here, with a sense of texture and wealth beneath, too. Faintly herbal behind, but super-faint. Vivid, fresh, long, and poised: satisfying and attractive, though not shooting the lights out. Classical and sound. | 91 AR | Pale youthful lime-green in color; still very fresh and appealing in aroma. Effortlessly pleasing on the palate, with a satisfyingly juicy texture, if just lacking in that extra third of the pitch when it comes to intensity. Lots to like, if not to love. | 89 DW | Bountifully fruited and with ample presence in the mouth from the ripe apple and stone-fruit juiciness, this has a very beguiling streak of gentle, fresh acidity in a style that seems to owe a debt to the best of Mâcon. | 92
Goodfellow Richard’s Cuvée Whistling Ridge Chardonnay Ribbon Ridge Willamette Valley 2019 93
Lingua Franca Inspiras Chardonnay 2020 93
Walter Scott Freedom Hill Vineyard Chardonnay 2019 93
Domaine Serene Chardonnay Evenstad Reserve 2019 93
00 Wines VGW Chardonnay 2018 92
Roserock Drouhin Oregon Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley 2020 92
WillaKenzie Estate Estate Cuvée Chardonnay 2019 92
While the consistency of quality at the
top level was impressive, there were some disappointments in a handful of wines that were dull, flat, or lacking in definition. Generally, oak handling was well done and for the right winemaking reasons, with few wines showing intrusive or excessive oak. I also found that for a supposedly non-aromatic variety, many producers had coaxed attractive aromas from these Chardonnays. A lot of the wines showed really good freshness, balance, and immediate drinkability, without excessive acidity or indeed any hard edges. While the lion’s share of the wines came
from the 2019 vintage, they were for the most part ready to drink now. But the best wines displayed a structure in their concentration of fruit and natural acidity indicating a likely continuation on a trajectory of improvement in bottle for at least three to five years—and in some instances up to ten years.
Lingua Franca Inspiras Chardonnay 2020 [Eola Amity Hills Willamette Valley](13% ABV)
| 91
AJ | Relatively pale compared to its peers—more silver than gold. Taut and restrained. Perhaps this will blossom with time, but at present it is clean, fresh, and dry, though no more articulate than that. With time in the glass, a little oat-flake shows up. Zesty and bright, with lemony fruits and a zesty, pithy finish—very much on the zeitgeist, assuming our first flight (where this wine appears) is representative. Well done and successful as such, though I would like to give the wine a year or two to see if it could develop a little more personality. | 90 AR | Pale lemon in color, with light greeny glints. This shows both freshness and a stylish light touch of spicy oak. In the mouth, the oak spice sits as an attractive veneer over an appealing fruit quality whose incisive grapefruity acidity cuts and cleanses along the way in a thoroughly polished dry white. | 93 DW | Nervy with clean lines; quite tight, with a slim beam of acidity bringing focus and shape to the apple and subtle wheatmeal savory tones. Nicely put together, a creaminess emerging through the finely tapered finish. | 90
Ponzi Vineyards Single Vineyard Avellana Laurelwood District Chardonnay 2019 [Chehalem Mountains Willamette Valley] (13.4% ABV)
| 91
AJ | Pale and silvery, with green hues. Clean, lean, but hauntingly suggestive, with ample ground-almond finesse. Svelte and enticing. High in quality—pristine—though it needs longer to develop more aromatic resource. Deep and concentrated flavors, with a little more ripeness than many of its peers; admirably soft textures to carry those flavors, and fine overall complexity. Nutty, full, and long: super stuff. Totally convincing as a world-class Chardonnay. | 94 AR | A pale lime-lemon in color, this is fresh enough, if a tad diffuse in aroma. In the glass, the stone-fruit flavors are underpinned by a distinctive saline dryness that’s pleasant enough, but overall it lacks a little in intensity and definition. | 88 DW | Creamy and rounded impression, with flavors of peach and a subtle touch of marzipan and nicely judged concentration, but well balanced with red- apple acidity. Very charming and graceful. | 92
Roserock Drouhin Oregon Chardonnay Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley 2020 (13.5% ABV)
| 91
AJ | Silver-gold; pale and glinting. Taut, clean, and fresh, but with most of its developmental trajectory ahead. Quiet and rather reserved at this stage. Bright, fresh, taut, even vinous; soundly constructed; full of lemony poise, and balanced out by fresh cool cream. Yet another 2020 where the best clearly lies ahead. | 91 AR | Behind the pale golden hue of this youthful Chardonnay lies a deft touch of stylish cashew- nut oak, reminiscent of (whisper it) young white Burgundy. In the mouth, there’s nice freshness and flavor, the fruit subtly framed by the same nutty
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