Discover Field Recordings Chenin Blanc 2024 – The Under-$20 Central Coast Maverick Gem!

Hey, welcome Domain Dave here from CheapWineFightercom. Another wine review. Today we have one of my favorites that I didn't know was a favorite until I drank it Field Recordings, shannon 2024. Just last year Found it for $14.99, though I think it lists higher than that. Field Recordings is Andrew Jones Jones.

Speaker 1:
0:29

He was a field man, which meant that he would travel the the Central Coast looking for underused or maybe overgrown vineyards and he would keep vineyards up and in 2007 he started to make his own wine. It's Wonderwall Fiction and Field Recordings. They're all very good wines and they kind of get great press and the very first single varietal he did was Chenin Blanc, the Chenin, and that was in 2007. And now you know all this time later he's still making it and he's got great sourcing time. Later he's still making it and he's got great sources. Every vineyard he used was planted in the 70s and most of them were planted at chennai blanc vineyards. This was before. You know, in the 70s in the wine the world we know today wasn't really happening. It was in Sonoma, napa maybe, but other places not so much. Part of it comes from the Chalone Vineyard, which is the oldest still producing vineyard in the Central Coast, and Chalone wines are seriously good wines. If you ever have the opportunity to drink those. The Jurassic Vineyard and the well, I can't think of the third one, but there's three really good 50 year old vineyards. They're gonna take a sip.

Speaker 1:
2:00

Now, chateaubriand Blanc is a grape that can be used a lot like Chardonnay. You can have it un-oaked, you can have it oaked, you can do malolactic, you can make it in different styles, you can make it into sparkling wine. Chenin does all that too. But the problem is with Chenin I don't know if it's a problem is that every winemaker kind of has a different style. With Chardonnay you're either doing the classic California style or the Burgundy style. I mean, most winemakers use those two things. And you know Chardon Blanc doesn't really have a classic style. It is a classic wine in France but everybody's making a difference so it's hard to grab onto something. So you never know what you're gonna get. And with Chateauneuf, for me, one time I'll have one and I go oh, this is great wine. You know, I really love this and I'll have another one for a different producer and it'll be yeah, I don't know. So this is really kind of interesting.

Speaker 1:
3:01

He got the grapes and he brought it into his winery and they pressed them straight into a barrel. This is barrel fermentation using natural yeast. It just spontaneously started fermenting Kind of cool. You don't really see that in under $20 wines. And the natural yeast, the yeast floats around the air and usually that happens when you're you got a wine where it's attached to a vineyard, cause that's. But this came from different places and it still happened. I'm gonna take another sip.

Speaker 1:
3:42

Then he used either neutral barriques a a break is the bordeaux barrel that everybody knows. Neutral means it's been used so often that you're not getting any flavor from it, but you still get the effects of the barrel. Uh, and the aging the wine. They age it for four months and then they used a thousand liter german butter, which is a butter is an old measure and I have no idea what a thousand liters is. It could be. I know a liter of pop is. You know so, but it's. He imported these old, these new German barrels that he, that he put this wine in, and then most of these German barrels are for Riesling. These are the kind of barrels that your fancy Rieslings from the Moselle are made in. So you've got this naturally, spontaneously fermented Chenin Blanc from Elite Vineyards made in this kind of funky old style with barrels and the techniques that I haven't heard of before, not that I would.

Speaker 1:
4:50

We talk about cheap wine. Things are pretty much simple. Simple helps with cheap. I like this wine. It starts out smooth and the flavors kind of bloom. This isn't a flashy Chateaubriand at all, it just kind of sneaks up on you. It's really kind of pretty. Flavors are all flavors you're going to get. There's peach, pear, there's melon, there's apple, there's maybe stone fruit, a little bit of apricot. I was getting dried pineapple bits and that type of thing with it. All nice flavors. He said he's like really in the pocket. This is only 11.9 in the alcohol, which is kind of low, but it's kind of, you know, riesling style.

Speaker 1:
5:39

If this is made in the Riesling style, I don't know if I can say that. So it's a really delicious Chenin Blanc. You know, like I said, I never know what I'm going to get. So you really got to. If you find a Chenin you like, remember what it is. Take a picture, label something because you're going to want to go back to that one Because the next one might not be the same. And you know, just because you don't like. It doesn't mean it's not a good Chenin. Somebody else probably loves it, but I think this is one that I really like and I'm going to go back to.

Speaker 1:
6:14

This is a really good shannon block and, uh, it's the field recordings, shannon 2024. It's a delicious wine, uh, from a really good winemaker from, and I really uh think it's a good one. I think it's something you should, if you can find it. Uh, 15 bucks is really good for it, because it's like I said, it's from elite vineyards with some kind of very intentional wine making. This is, and a lot of times, under 20. It's quick and easy. Make it as easy as you can. That's the best way. That's not a bad way to make these wines. This one's got intentionality to it and it works and it tastes great. So, adios, keep it cheap. I've got another peanut noir coming up in a couple of days, so stay warm and I'll be talking to you, adios, bye, bye.