Does California Chardonnay Age?

[Craig Camp]

WTN: Kalin Cellars Chardonnay, Cuvee LR, Sonoma County, 1988

The color is a dark gold..... that reminds me I have to make an appointment for my annual physical...anyway, the nose is rich and full of butterscotch and butter with a surprising strong mineral component and a touch of lime. Full and round in the mouth with a firm almost tart backbone balancing the ripe tropical fruit (mango?) fruit and oak. The finish is firm with a stony/lime tartness to help carry all that richness and butterscotch. This was a pleasant surprise as I expected it to be shot and when I saw the color, well...

Certainly not a wine to keep any longer but at this point is is a very interesting and complex wine showing both richness and a firm structure to carry its weight and oxidation.

Tasted: 2/23/2003

Comments: this is a bottle that I bought at a store after it had gone through the distributor's warehouse and retailer's shelf "fast-aging techniques" and I am sure that bottles at the winery would be much fresher.

[Mark Sommelier]

WTN: Kalin Cellars Chardonnay, Cuvee LR, Sonoma County, 1988

The color is a dark gold..... that reminds me I have to make an appointment for my annual physical...anyway, the nose is rich and full of butterscotch and butter with a surprising strong mineral component and a touch of lime. Full and round in the mouth with a firm almost tart backbone balancing the ripe tropical fruit (mango?) fruit and oak. The finish is firm with a stony/lime tartness to help carry all that richness and butterscotch. This was a pleasant surprise as I expected it to be shot and when I saw the color, well...

Certainly not a wine to keep any longer but at this point is is a very interesting and complex wine showing both richness and a firm structure to carry its weight and oxidation.

Tasted: 2/23/2003

Comments: this is a bottle that I bought at a store after it had gone through the distributor's warehouse and retailer's shelf "fast-aging techniques" and I am sure that bottles at the winery would be much fresher.

Terry Leighton ("Mr. Kalin") is a friend of mine. I believe he is the only winemaker in California who does not release a wine before he thinks it is ready to drink. His '94 pinot noir was just released, as an example. His current chardonnay vintage is also '94 or '95. His wines, like them or not, always have character.

[fyfas]

I actually prefer some age on chardonnay, not that it improves most of them all that much. You mention Kalin and the Chateau Woltner wines from the late 80's.

Don't forget the wonderful Stony Hill Napa chardonnays; fifteen and twenty year wines.

Kalin offers a Potter Valley Sauvignon Blanc, too, that is rarely released earlier than four or five years after vintage; an exceptional wine.

[Carolyn Tillie]

By all accounts, the wine that I am attempting to dump is "just coming into its prime" -- not because it is a California Chard, per se, but because it was made in the Burgundian style (minerally, tinny).

I am hoping that some of the folks that are scooping up my old stuff will report back on this thread and let us know what they think!

[melkor]

Mayacamas chard is also quite ageworthy.