Last July we tasted four different Chardonnay’s produced by Wente Vineyards. This was an online tasting with live video of Karl Wente telling us about his wines. Now we have just participated in another online tasting of the same wines only from the next years vintage. Karl was online again along with us and several other wine bloggers. Overall, all of us online tweeted to over 60,000 people.
In our July, 2010 post we talked a lot about how the wines were made so you may want to read it and compare the tasting notes to this years notes.
2011 Wente Vineyards Eric’s Chardonnay Small Lot – From the Livermore Valley and called “Small Lot” because it is made in a micro winery with small batch fermenters. This stainless steel only wine’s color is a light yellow, the nose is restrained with light fruit. I can’t fully describe it other than to say it smells like Chardonnay grapes. Nice and crisp green and red apples in the flavor and a lingering finish.
2010 Wente Vineyards Morning Fog – Named for the fog that rolls in from the bay into Livermore, the color is a light yellow, just a little deeper than the Eric’s. It has a little oak influence with the fruit in the nose. The flavors of the same with some roundness and vanilla in the mouth. This wine was aged 50% in oak and 50% in stainless steel and has a crisp clean finish.
2010 Wente Vineyards Riva Ranch – Now we have moved from the Livermore area to Arroyo Seco. The Riva Ranch has a deeper yellow color and spicy oak notes on the nose, baking spices. The influence of the 10 months in French oak is more obvious in the mouth with some tropical fruit. The spiciness from the oak shows up in the long finish.
2010 Wente Vineyards The Nth Degree – Back to Livermore Valley again we have progressed to more oak influence and the color has deepened even more than the Riva Ranch. The Nth Degree had a more restrained nose than I would expect, maybe I need to let the wine warm up a little more. Note: I poured it in a Riedel glass made for oaked Chardonnay and the nose opened up more. There was citrus and tropical fruits with a little spice in the mouth. A little more roundness in the mouth than the Riva Ranch and a long flavorful finish.
All four Chardonnay’s were very good, just pick your style. This is a great way to taste the wine and see how the use of oak (or lack of) affects each wine. These online tasting with the winemaker are real educational and if your are on Twitter and see one happening, go to the link listed and join in or just eavesdrop.
Update: You can watch the video of Karl talking about his wines.
Disclaimer: These wines were provided to us as tasting samples.
