Once Victoria Day is over, the next celebration is National Chardonnay Day. A week Saturday, on May 26, wine enthusiasts will be sipping Chardonnays to honour the most popular white wine in North America.
Today, I’ll review two Chardonnays and its red partner in California, Cabernet Sauvignon. All three wines are from Wente Vineyards in California.
Wente is California’s First Family of Chardonnay. It was founded in 1883 and this year they are celebrating their 135th anniversary. Wente Vineyards is the oldest continuously operated, family-owned winery in the U.S. Their clone of Chardonnay, the Wente Clone, is now used by most wineries in California. Furthermore they were the first to produce a varietal labeled Chardonnay back in the 1960’s.
The 2016 Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay ($18.49 until June 2) is estate grown in the Livermore Valley where the winery is located. The vineyards are cooled by the fog that rolls into nearby San Francisco Bay, producing a style that has ripe fruit but crisp acids to balance the wine.
The result? A very popular style according to British wine critic Oz Clarke who reviewed this wine in Decanter Magazine and gave it 92 out of 100 points! And to back this up, it is the top selling California Chardonnay in B.C.
Morning Fog is light golden in the glass with a citrus and tropical fruit nose and a kiss of oak. On the taste buds it has lemon and pineapple with creamy buttered toasty flavours plus a delicious balance between fruit, acid, minerals and oak. Perfect now at two years but it can age until 2020 if you prefer that older style.
If you like a more premium Chardonnay, the Wente 2016 Riva Ranch ($33.49 at Everything Wine) is a barrel fermented Chardonnay from Wente’s Riva Ranch vineyard in Arroyo Seco in Monterey.
You’ll expect a deeper golden hue in the glass, and a richer texture with bolder flavours of butterscotch, toasted almond, with ripe peach, apple and citrus. Plus there’s creaminess as a result of battonage, the regular stirring during aging in French and American oak.
I enjoyed both with dry rubbed country spareribs and barbecue sauce. Also delicious with garlic prawns, crab, lobster or even buttered popcorn!
Switching colours, the Wente 2015 Southern Hills Cabernet Sauvignon ($19.99) is an affordable smooth Cab, perfect for the barbecue season. Ruby red in the glass, it has a complex bouquet of cassis, plums, vanilla and gentle oak. The flavour is rich and complex with dark fruits, some chocolate and forest floor with a good backbone but smooth tannins.
This Cab is ready to drink but decant for at least an hour or two to allow it to evolve out of the bottle.
Enjoy with a variety of main courses. I had it with a roast chicken and a citrus marinade and gravy, but steaks, beef or lamb roasts and game would be equally as good. Try this recipe if beef crostinis with caramelized onion and horseradish tickles your fancy: bcliquorstores.com/recipe/shaved-beef-crostinis-with-caramelized-onion-and-horseradish.
Eric Hanson is a Richmond wine educator.
