The 2011 Fisheye Chardonnay is sourced from vineyards in Southeastern Australia. Fisheye is one of Underdog Wine Merchants labels, they also produce Cupcake, Flipflop and Big House wines. They don’t give a great deal of information on the making of the wine, one hint they do give is that the wine tastes of “fresh picked apples and pears with a touch of vanilla”. So, maybe the Chardonnay under went malolactic fermentation (to soften the acidity) and maybe some oak barrel aging or more likely some chucks of oak or oak staves tossed into the stainless steel tanks during the aging process. The alcohol content is 13%.
The color is pale wheat yellow. The nose is pineapple, pink grapefruit, a little freshly sliced apple, spring flowers and a faint hit of creamery butter. This is a medium bodied, crisp, friendly Chardonnay. It starts with apples and dried apricots, then Anjou pear and lime. The mid palate transitions to smooth lemon, with unsweetened pineapple juice. There is a decent amount of acidity, though I think this is more of a sipping Chardonnay than a food wine. The finish is ok, smooth fruit flavors, but fades a bit soon.
The Fisheye Chardonnay is a fine little tuesday night Chardonnay. You should be able to find it for well under ten bucks (probably closer to 5 than 10). Crisp, light and refreshing with a nice creamy edge, it will help cool off a long hot day.
