2006

Chardonnay

Duck Pond - Desert Wind Vineyard - Wahluke Slope

Columbia Valley - Washington

Price: $11.99

Rating: 4 – At This Price A Good Buy

When making Chardonnay, you have two ways to go: To age it in stainless steel or in oak barrels.  Many American wineries use steel vats, which impart in the wine the tastes of fruits such as apple, pear, apricot, or pineapple.  Those aged in oak, a European method, usually exhibit a creamy nut flavor, with occasional hints of vanilla.  Why is this important you may ask?  When matching food and wine, the effects of the aging process becomes important.  Will a wine heavy in fruit flavors be a better match than those aged in oak? 

We had the opportunity to try this wine with a garlic and herb chicken.  The herbs also included a bit of pepper spice so the choice of how the wine was aged became important.  We felt the more fruit flavored chardonnays would not go well with the herbs, garlic and pepper, thus we chose an oak aged Chardonnay.  This was a good choice.  Typical of the oak aged wines, it exhibited a creamy flavor, and believe it or not, had a touch of honeysuckle.  The VMan picked up a slight taste of pear, but by and large it was well balanced between the sweet and dry, the complexity of flavors and the aromas.  As a result it went well with the chicken dish.  Considering a good chardonnay can get a bit pricey, at $11.99 we give this wine a 4, a good buy at this price