The 2009 Field Recordings Chardonnay is sourced from a single, family owned, sustainably farmed vineyard located in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA of Monterey County, California. This Chardonnay underwent full malolactic fermentation (a process where the naturally occurring tart malic acid is converted to softer, more rounded tasting lactic acid, it also helps the wine integrate the effects of the oak barrel aging). The wine is aged in 75% new French oak and 25% one year old French oak barrels. Only 97 cases of this Chardonnay was produced.
The color is orange blossom honey yellow. The nose is honeysuckle, apple and honey. This is a rich, full flavored Chardonnay, it tastes of butterscotch, apple, melon, lemon and fresh sliced limes, The mid-palate brings dried apricots and a touch of butter. The oak enhances the flavors, but does not dominate the wine like some oaked California Chardonnays do. The finish is long, long, long.
Field Recording Wines are the kind of wines you should support, and here is why. The typical winemaker, if he were offered top quality grapes, but only enough for 97 cases, would not make a small production run. They would go out and find some additional decent, but inexpensive grapes, say enough for a production run of 2500 cases (or more) and blend in the top quality grapes to give the wine a little oomph, a little character. They would then sit back and let the wine magazines praise them for making an above average, average wine. Field Recordings took a small allotment of top quality grapes and made the best possible wine that they could. You get an honest wine that reflects where it was grown and who made the wine. On top of that, they don’t price the bottle like some boutique wine, where the mindset is “of course this is a great bottle of wine, look how expensive it is”. This is a bottle that is well within the budget of most wine drinkers. It is a solid, honest wine, made the right way.
With such a small production run the Field Recording Chardonnay will be tough to find, so there is a link to a shop that carries the wine at a good price, The Wine Cellar
