The Let’s Drink Chardonnay 2016 is an ALDI $6.99 import wine, sourced from vineyards in South Australia. South Australia is a huge growing region that produces about half of Australia’s wine output. The climates vary greatly, there are areas that reach over 100 degrees in the heat of summer to cool coastal regions. As a matter of fact, South Australia on the label really does not tell you much, …hot , cool, river valley, hillside, plain, you name a growing condition and South Australia has some form of it. But at $6.99, knowing the exact local of the grapes isn’t that important, the producer doing a good job of sourcing the grapes and doing a solid job of wine production is far more a factor. For more expensive wines, start looking for individual growing regions, such as the Barossa Valley, Coonawara, or the Limestone Coast. Just the same, South Australia does have a very good reputation for producing quality fruit forward, inexpensive, every-day Chardonnay. The alcohol content is 13%.
The color is a pale olive oil yellow. The nose is delicate, honeysuckle, apple, lime, melon, a little pear, and a touch of lemon. This is a dry, crisp, medium-bodied Chardonnay, with balanced flavors and acidity. It starts with rounded Macintosh apple, lemon, melon, and honey. The mid-palate shows kiwi, Bosc pear, and a hint of baking spice. The acidity gives the flavors length to unfold, but never gets sharp or bites. The finish is soft but does hang around for some time.
The Let’s Drink Chardonnay 2016, well, at first I thought it was a lazy product name, but it turned out to be quite accurate, yeah let’s do drink some Chardonnay. It is a solid Chardonnay, if you were to guess the price you would easily think it’s more in the $10 to $12 range. AT. $6.99 the Let’s Drink Chardonnay is a no-brainer, good body, lovely flavors and balance that 10 years ago almost never occurred in 7 buck wine. Let’s drink two.
