2009 Lake Sonoma Chardonnay

I tried this wine on the hottest of hot days, when you walk outside and feel like you've just walked into someone's mouth. Just a disgusting horrible day when the breeze is so hot, when it hits you its almost like its bitch slapping you.


I'm on this butter Chardonnay kick right now, I just can't help myself. Even though the day begged for a Sav Blanc, Viogner or Rose I just wanted Chard and this little number did the trick, golden in color a little toast, a little apple, a little pear - not big in your face, but not a shrinking violet either with great mouth feel - if your into that. Perfect.







The Particulars
Winery: Lake Sonoma Winery
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
AVA: California, Russian River Valley
Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5%
Price:  $20
Cost: $12.50

Rating = Buy It

2009 Shoo Fly "The Freckle"

Yeah, sorry about the pic here - but we've just finished this bottle of wine and Chris has already thrown it in the recycle bin so I needed to search the internet for an image of he wine. Harder than you might think.


Chris and I bought this wine at a tasting during the spring. I'll be honest, I bought it almost certainly because of the name "The Freckle", being a mix of Irish and Scottish heritage I have pretty much been screwed in the area of skin pigmentation. This is never more evident as when my husband, an Italian, can generate a tan line by simply walking to the back yard and watering the garden, when it's overcast. I don't tan, I just become a matrix of freckles, with enough sun, they almost look like a tan, or leprosy, its a toss of the dice. So a wine, made predominately out of the "freckled" grape Marsanne just spoke to me a little. (There's marketing for every ginger out there for ya.)


Anyway - here we go.


I liked this wine, the label states that I will get honeysuckle, peach and subtle oak. I find that I am very good at smelling and tasting things that I encounter on a daily basis. I run every morning, somewhere between 4 and 8 miles a day, and there is a yard, about 3 miles or so into my run that has a fence with honeysuckle that twists and climbs up the fence, facing the sidewalk. I look forward to this part of my run because the aroma of honeysuckle is so strong and is such a refreshing burst on an otherwise aromatically lame run. So, I know what honeysuckle smells like, and yes, this wine smells and at the beginning tastes like honeysuckle and I love that. Oak, now that's another thing, I love oak especially in white wines and I just didn't get it on here, what I did get on the finish was an almost tart sour lime pith type flavor. Not the best finish, but not terrible either, and for $11 I'm not complaining.


This is the perfect wine for a night like tonight, when you are outside and the oppressive heat of the day breaks just enough for you to cool off and enjoy the breeze.


The Particulars
Winery: Shoofly
Varietal: 40% Marsanne, 37% Roussane, 23%Viogner
AVA: Adelaide, Australia
Vintage: 2009
Price: $11


Rating - BUY IT

2009 Bridlewood Chardonnay

I bought this wine at a tasting a few months ago. This past weekend we headed up to Vermont to spend a little time in the sun and I took this from the cellar thinking it would be a great wine to have on the deck at night. On the ride up, I was reading the July 13th issue of Wine Spectator, which was a special issue on the top rated California Chardonnays. In the buyers guide I spied that the exact wine I had in my cooler was given an 87 point rating. The Wine Spectator rating read as such: fresh floral , citrus, peach and nectarine aromas are smooth and easy drinking in this complex white, which ends with a touch of sweetness. Drink now through 2013.

Here's what I think. It was good. I usually like the big butter bomb Chardonnays - this is not one of those, it is light in the beginning, I don't get tropical flavors which some other reviews have claimed, but I do get the nectarine and peach on the nose, and slight vanilla on the finish, but for me, it ended a little too acidic. For $15 bucks though this is a stand up California Chard and would be a good crowd pleaser for people who like medium weight whites. 

To be fair, I fell asleep in the middle of this bottle, I opened it, had about a glass, and promptly fell asleep in the sun like a lazy drunk person. When I woke up, thankfully I was not sunburned to all hell, and no flies or bees had found their way into the bottle, so I poured myself another glass. So, actually, the time I spent napping was very good for the wine, because over that half hour that I was in the land of nod, the wine really opened up and was a little less harsh and acidic on the finish.

My vote here is: BUY IT.

The Particulars

Winery: Bridalwood

Varietal: Chardonnay

AVA: California, Monterey County

Vintage: 2009

Alcohol: 13.3