The Ava Grace Chardonnay 2015 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. The name Ava means “life” in Hebrew and an AVA is the initials for American Viticultural Area which indicates the land boundaries for American wine regions. Ava Grace is one of the many brands for The Wine Group , who are the world’s 2nd largest producer of wine by volume. The tasting notes for the Ava Grace do not mention where the grapes were grown or go into any detail about how the wine was made, but the front label specifies ” Peach. Bright, and Lovely” which just may be all you really need to know for a 10 buck (give or take a couple of bucks, I found it at $8.99) California Chardonnay.The tasting notes do mention almonds and vanilla which usually translates to some sort of oak treatment (vanilla) and aged “on lees” (almonds). The alcohol content is 13.5%, which is fairly standard for todays California Chardonnay.
The color is a pale, sunshine yellow. The nose is pretty, lively fruit and citrus, with a little honey and a whole bunch of flowers. This is a dry Chardonnay with fruit upfront and tart citrus on the mid-palate. It starts with apple, peach, pear, and lemon. The mid-palate brings a little vanilla cream, lime and tart grapefruit. The acidity brings a shine to the flavors, this is not a heavy Chardonnay. The finish is crisp and long.
The Ava Grace Chardonnay 2015 is a solid Chardonnay, lots of flavor, well-made, and well-priced. The label didn’t lie about the “Peach, Bright, and Lovely, normally you can ignore what’s on the label, but this time they got it right. For pairing, summer salads, white sauce pasta, and seafood would work and I’m thinking chicken fajitas or tacos would also work.
