WineSmith 2002 Faux Chablis
I don't like what California Chardonnay has become. We frequently show our winemaker clients how
to make beautiful European-style whites of delicate fragrance, racy structure and mineral depth,
and they often love these wines better than the styles they market. Unhappily, we have yet to
persuade a single client that the public shares a taste for these beautiful wines. Indeed,
in California-based competitions, my fellow judges often trim from the pack (as "atypical")
all but the fat shallow buttery toast bombs they have resigned themselves to expect.
The aim of this wine is to prove that many knowledgeable wine lovers prefer Chardonnays of
delicacy and grace. As an instructor at Napa Valley College, I have waited in line for
9 years to obtain Chardonnay from its wonderful Student Vineyard, lovingly tended for
seventeen years by the estimable viticulturist and Program Coordinator Stephen Krebs,
also as fine a teacher as one could wish for. The living soil Steve maintains in
this beautifully balanced vineyard imparts in the finish a mineral electricity
rarely seen in California whites.
In their cool rainy climate, the grapes of Chablis achieve profound fruit complexity
while sugar is still low, and vignerons often adjust their musts with beet sugar for
proper alcohol balance. In California we have the opposite problem. A gentle reverse
osmosis technique I devised allowed us to disregard elevated Brix and pick at true
flavor ripeness, later fine-tuning the alcohol. We elected to suppress malolactic
to maintain the wine's acidity and fresh flowery expression. Bātonage sur lies and
restrained use of well-seasoned Alliers oak impart rich structure, aromatic complexity
and reductive strength which invite a few years' cellaring.
Misappropriation of European place names is particularly disgraceful when used to embellish
wines of low stature and unsuitable style. Our French friends find wry humor in America's
only pure-Chardonnay "chablis."
| 230 cases were produced. |
Retail price $30 per bottle. |
10% discount per case. |
Tell me more about:
Real Chablis
Alcohol adjustment and grape maturity
Review by Dan Berger's Vintage Selections
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