The 2012 Yellow Tail or [yellow tail] (as it says on the label) is sourced from vineyards in South Eastern Australia. The 2012 vintage in Australia is possibly the best vintage in the last 20 years. If you are looking for inexpensive wines from Australia, 2012 is your year. This Chardonnay sees a little bit…
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The 2011 Chill Out Chardonnay is sourced from more than one grape growing AVA in California. There is no mention of the Chill Out Chardonnay brand on the internet. The back label shows it was produced in Ripon & Livermore, California, which usually means this is one the The Wine Groups labels, they have Concannon, Mogen David,…
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The 2012 Wente Estates Morning Fog Chardonnay is sourced from Wente’s Estate vineyards in Livermore Valley and the San Francisco Bay. The fog that rolls inland off the San Francisco Bay in the morning cools the grapes before the afternoon heat kicks in. Wente Vineyards has been a family owned winery for 130 years and…
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The 2011 Milou Chardonnay is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards near the town of Asperes in the Languedoc grape growing region in the south of France. The Milou Chardonnay is designated a Vin de Pays D’Oc, which indicates that the grapes are representative of the Languedoc, but the wine was not produced according to the…
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The 2010 Maryhill Winery Chardonnay is sourced from 5 contracted vineyards in the Columbia Valley of Washington State. The bulk of the grapes come from Milbrandt Vineyards, it seems like every time you find a wine from Columbia Valley that isn’t produced by Chateau Ste Michelle or Columbia Crest, at least a portion of the…
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The 2010 Matchbook Old Head (refers to used oak barrels) Chardonnay is sourced 98% from the Matchbook Vineyards (sustainably farmed) in the Dunnigan Hills AVA and 2% from the Dutton Ranch Mill Station Vineyard in the Russian River Valley AVA. The grapes are picked at night, because the they are juicier when the weather is…
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The 2011 Epica Chardonnay is 100% Chardonnay sourced from Vina San Pedro’s sustainably farmed vineyards in the Casablanca and Curico Valley’s in the Central Valley of Chile. Epica is one of Vina San Pedro’s value lines of wine, Vina San Pedro was named New World Winery of the Year for 2011 by Wine Enthusiast. The 2011 vintage in Chile was unusually cool allowing the grapes to develop and ripen slowly and fully. This Chardonnay is produced with minimal manipulation, allowing the true flavors of the fruit…
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The 2011 Creme de Lys Chardonnay is 95% Chardonnay and 5% Viognier (Viognier gives the wine a rich floral nose) sourced in vineyards from 50% Lodi, 45% Central Coast and 5% North Coast AVA’s in California. Creme de Lys is one of Diageo Wines many brands, others include Rosenblum, Snap Dragon, Chalone and Sterling Vineyards….
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The lil’ koala Chardonnay is a $4.99 Aldi’s wine imported from South East Australia. This is a non-vintage wine with a cartoon critter label, at one time if a wine had a cartoon critter on the label it was probably a wise idea to avoid it. But, inexpensive wine has seen enough improvement in the…
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The 2010 Cameron Hughes Lot 330 Chardonnay is sourced from the Arroyo Seco AVA inside the Monterey County AVA which in turn is inside the larger Central Coast AVA. The Arroyo Seco AVA has many varying micro climates, but generally the Eastern side of the AVA, closest to the Pacific grows Chardonnay and the Western…
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The Smoking Loon Steelbird Unoaked Chardonnay is 85% Chardonnay, 7% Vermentino, 6% Symphony and 3% Verdelho sourced from vineyards located in more than one California grape growing AVA. The blending grapes are a little unusual, Verdelho is a variety normally found in Portugal, Vermentino is a White grape predominately grown Italy and Symphony is a fairly…
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The Cul-De-Sac Chardonnay is a supermarket wine. In the Midwest it is sold by the Roundy’s chain, Mariano’s Fresh Market is their Chicago store, where it retails for $4, in Texas the Cul-De-Sac wines are carried by the H E B chain, there are probably others. The Cul-De-Sac Wine Company is a project put together…
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The 2009 Renwood Chardonnay is an orphan wine. Renwood, founded in 1993, went bankrupt in 2011, its assets were sold off and there is a new Renwood Winery that is not affiliated with the old Renwood. The new Renwood focuses on Zinfandel, they control some of the oldest vines in California, and do not have…
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The 2012 Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay is Jacob’s Creek’s entry level Chardonnay sourced from various vineyards thru-out South Eastern Australia. One important thing to note, is that Jacob Creek’s chief winemaker, Bernard Hickin, says that the 2012 vintage in South Eastern Australia was the best vintage in 20 years. Good wine is made in the vineyards,…
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The 2010 Lucky Star Chardonnay is 95% Chardonnay and 5% Muscat (one of the oldest known grape varietals) sourced from multiple vineyards in the Lodi AVA, Sonoma, Lake County AVA and the Central Coast AVA. Lucky Star is a virtual winery (this is very common in California), they do not own their own vineyards or their…
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