2018 A to Z Wineworks Chardonnay

2018 A to Z Wineworks Chardonnay

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Vintage: 2018
Region: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Winery: A to Z Wineworks
Varietal: Chardonnay (Unoaked)
Price: $12.99 at Wegmans
Expert Rating: 90
My Rating: 95

Things to note: Ranked #58 on Wine Spectator's "Top 100 Wines of 2019"

The Review: Hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's day. For this week's post, I've got a personal favorite. In case you couldn't tell from my really high rating, this wine is something else. It's an unoaked chardonnay, so it's a lot less buttery than most chardonnays and instead leans a little more acidic and fruity. When you oak a chardonnay (put it in oak barrels), it gains a lot of that buttery characteristic that sometimes will deter people. So if you don't like this, look for these unoaked wines (they'll say it on the bottle if it's unoaked). Anyways, the scent of this wine is citrus to the max. Lots of lime and lemon immediately with a little bit of that classic butter undertones (not overwhelming though). As soon as you taste it, the citrus leaps out. One thing that I noticed was the pleasant tartness of the wine. It kind of felt like how a good key lime pie should feel. A little tart, but not too much. There was also a little green apple (pretty similar flavor profile as citrus). As the wine goes down, there's a really long and full finish. There's this thing that I described as "minty," you might notice it too, and the experts describe that as a nice minerality. It really just kind of sits on the tongue for a while after you swallow. While we're on the topic of the finish of the wine, one of the things that blew my mind was how it was somehow both incredibly rich, but tickled the tongue at the same time. I don't even know if that makes sense. I do know that this wine is something special and is a great supermarket find. If you love chardonnays, get this wine. If you hate chardonnays, get this wine. If someone tells me that they don't like chardonnays, I'm gonna reach for a bottle of this.

bere solo vino buono,

db

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