You are not going to believe this - I have found not one but two domestic Chardonnays that I love and can afford. Both are stunning, 2001 Chateau Ste Michelle, single-vineyard wines from the Columbia Valley of Washington State. Both are priced at a remarkable $16.99/15.29, but there the similarity ends. To the sense of taste and smell, they are remarkably different. I would be hard-pressed to choose between them - and I did not. I bought both, leaving the choice up to you. Either way you are going to be very happy.
The Cold Creek Vineyard '01 Reserve Chardonnay is a stunning new-world style wine. Barrel fermented in new French oak, followed by malolactic fermentation, and aged on the lees for 11 months. The bouquet is quite sensational, a rich mouthfeel, with lovely restrained fruit, hints of vanilla from the malo fermentation, all framed in stunningly restrained oak. You need only one sip, perhaps only one sniff to understand why I, and many of you, are turned off by so many Chards that are heavy and dominated by harsh, bitter wood flavors. What kind of palate do the people who make these wines have? What in the world are they using? Might it be wood extract?
You can enjoy and savor Cold Creek Chard on its own, but it makes a banquet out of any but the lightest of seafood, any white meat dish, even pasta (but no tomato sauce!).
The Canoe RidgeVineyard '01 Reserve Chardonnay is very different wine - lighter on the palate, less fruity, less oaky and brighter with a more acidic backbone. Distinctly old-world style - food wine. Surprisingly, it too, was barrel fermented in new French oak and aged on the lees for 10 months. How to explain the dramatic difference between these two wines? I do not understand why the oak in this wine is so much more subtle than in the Cold Creek. Soil, exposure, climate and particularly temperature no doubt account for the differences in fruit and acid. The Canoe Ridge Vineyard climate is the cooler of the two, but one might wonder if the winemaker, either deliberately or otherwise, had something to do with the dramatic difference in bouquet, taste and mouthfeel. I e-mailed the winemaker and asked the question. For those of you who are interested, Bob.Bertheau's answers (there are two of them), appear as foot-notes to this column. They make very interesting reading.
Regardless, both are exciting world-class wines - Rick's Picks at a bargain price. At a Saturday tasting they were a huge hit. Surprisingly, the old-world Canoe Ridge, outsold the new-world Cold Creek about 3-to-1, reflecting the fact that, at least at the Madison Wine Shop, oak is out.
I urge you to buy a bottle of each, take them home and have a ball making your own comparison. Above all drink them no colder than 65 degrees, even room temperature. Let me know your reaction.
An Old Washington State Favorite is Back
Almost exactly four years ago I tasted and flipped over Snoqualmie '98 Cabernet Sauvignon. We bought every case we could get and over the next two years it was our best-selling domestic wine. Snoqualmie, like Columbia Crest, is a Chateau Ste Michelle property with its own vineyards, winery and winemaker, Joy Anderson.
When the "chocolate" wine, as many customers still call the '98 Cab, ran out, as all vintages inevitably do, we tried the '99 vintage and passed. So Snoqualmie disappeared from our shelves - until two weeks ago when I tasted the Snoqualmie '01 Rosebud Vineyard Cab. It is lovely and rich right off the cork, but aerate it, and, after a short while, wonderful cocoa/chocolate bouquet and flavor notes begin to evolve. The wine is reminiscent of its '98 predecessor - unique. It stands out from the legions of look-alike Cabs. Complex, balanced, and unfailing in its ability to offer joy from the first drop out of the bottle to the very last drop in the glass. Yours for $17.99/16.79.
The Snoqualmie Rosebud Vineyard is on the northern reaches of the Columbia River, on the Wahkuke Slope, one of the warmest areas in the Columbia Valley. One thinks of Washington State as northern, wet and cool - but the Cascade Mountains intervene, trapping the moisture on the western slope, leaving the eastern slope a desert - hot during the day and cool at night with plenty of sunshine. That is Syrah climate and its coming! Stay tuned.
One last word about these wines - they are the product of a giant corporation, that could be counted as part of what I call the expanding, evil empire, but they are not! The giants in the business are growing fewer and bigger, focused on building "brands", volume, and their bottom line. Passionate wine making is the province of the small winegrower. They are being squeezed by the mass-marketers and their numbers are dwindling. I understand that 90% of all Australian wine, becoming evermore homogenized, is made by four huge conglomerates, with the remaining 10% coming from some 800 or more small producers.
Over the years Chateau Ste-Michelle's pricing has been restrained and their quality overall has been maintained if not improved - of course not every wine in every vintage. Chateau Ste Michelle's '93 Cold Creek Cab Franc was our greatest Washington State hit. When our inventory ran out in 1999 we enquired about a new vintage and were informed that there would be no more straight Cab Franc - it was all being blended. We screamed bloody murder! They heard the screams and found 25 cases of the '93 at the winery, which they sold to us in 2000 for the same price we paid in 1995. We have just 30 bottles remaining, at the original price $27.99/25/19.
While they do have a few entries into the so-called super premium category, Chateau Ste Michelle did not succumb to the madness that has beset so many domestic producers. I get the impression that here is a conglomerate that has given its winemaking arm free reign and a mandate to make quality wine in every price bracket at a fair profit. They always have made a significant effort to educate their distributors and any retailer who wishes to participate. They are building their brands on the basis of quality and value, not hype. I support them.
Rick Lewis
Scroll down to Winemaker Bob Bertheau's Response
Visit madisonwineshop.com | Questions or comments? Email info@madisonwineshop.com- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -The Cold Creek Vineyard '01 Reserve Chardonnay is a stunning new-world style wine. Barrel fermented in new French oak, followed by malolactic fermentation, and aged on the lees for 11 months. The bouquet is quite sensational, a rich mouthfeel, with lovely restrained fruit, hints of vanilla from the malo fermentation, all framed in stunningly restrained oak. You need only one sip, perhaps only one sniff to understand why I, and many of you, are turned off by so many Chards that are heavy and dominated by harsh, bitter wood flavors. What kind of palate do the people who make these wines have? What in the world are they using? Might it be wood extract?
You can enjoy and savor Cold Creek Chard on its own, but it makes a banquet out of any but the lightest of seafood, any white meat dish, even pasta (but no tomato sauce!).
The Canoe RidgeVineyard '01 Reserve Chardonnay is very different wine - lighter on the palate, less fruity, less oaky and brighter with a more acidic backbone. Distinctly old-world style - food wine. Surprisingly, it too, was barrel fermented in new French oak and aged on the lees for 10 months. How to explain the dramatic difference between these two wines? I do not understand why the oak in this wine is so much more subtle than in the Cold Creek. Soil, exposure, climate and particularly temperature no doubt account for the differences in fruit and acid. The Canoe Ridge Vineyard climate is the cooler of the two, but one might wonder if the winemaker, either deliberately or otherwise, had something to do with the dramatic difference in bouquet, taste and mouthfeel. I e-mailed the winemaker and asked the question. For those of you who are interested, Bob.Bertheau's answers (there are two of them), appear as foot-notes to this column. They make very interesting reading.
Regardless, both are exciting world-class wines - Rick's Picks at a bargain price. At a Saturday tasting they were a huge hit. Surprisingly, the old-world Canoe Ridge, outsold the new-world Cold Creek about 3-to-1, reflecting the fact that, at least at the Madison Wine Shop, oak is out.
I urge you to buy a bottle of each, take them home and have a ball making your own comparison. Above all drink them no colder than 65 degrees, even room temperature. Let me know your reaction.
An Old Washington State Favorite is Back
Almost exactly four years ago I tasted and flipped over Snoqualmie '98 Cabernet Sauvignon. We bought every case we could get and over the next two years it was our best-selling domestic wine. Snoqualmie, like Columbia Crest, is a Chateau Ste Michelle property with its own vineyards, winery and winemaker, Joy Anderson.
When the "chocolate" wine, as many customers still call the '98 Cab, ran out, as all vintages inevitably do, we tried the '99 vintage and passed. So Snoqualmie disappeared from our shelves - until two weeks ago when I tasted the Snoqualmie '01 Rosebud Vineyard Cab. It is lovely and rich right off the cork, but aerate it, and, after a short while, wonderful cocoa/chocolate bouquet and flavor notes begin to evolve. The wine is reminiscent of its '98 predecessor - unique. It stands out from the legions of look-alike Cabs. Complex, balanced, and unfailing in its ability to offer joy from the first drop out of the bottle to the very last drop in the glass. Yours for $17.99/16.79.
The Snoqualmie Rosebud Vineyard is on the northern reaches of the Columbia River, on the Wahkuke Slope, one of the warmest areas in the Columbia Valley. One thinks of Washington State as northern, wet and cool - but the Cascade Mountains intervene, trapping the moisture on the western slope, leaving the eastern slope a desert - hot during the day and cool at night with plenty of sunshine. That is Syrah climate and its coming! Stay tuned.
One last word about these wines - they are the product of a giant corporation, that could be counted as part of what I call the expanding, evil empire, but they are not! The giants in the business are growing fewer and bigger, focused on building "brands", volume, and their bottom line. Passionate wine making is the province of the small winegrower. They are being squeezed by the mass-marketers and their numbers are dwindling. I understand that 90% of all Australian wine, becoming evermore homogenized, is made by four huge conglomerates, with the remaining 10% coming from some 800 or more small producers.
Over the years Chateau Ste-Michelle's pricing has been restrained and their quality overall has been maintained if not improved - of course not every wine in every vintage. Chateau Ste Michelle's '93 Cold Creek Cab Franc was our greatest Washington State hit. When our inventory ran out in 1999 we enquired about a new vintage and were informed that there would be no more straight Cab Franc - it was all being blended. We screamed bloody murder! They heard the screams and found 25 cases of the '93 at the winery, which they sold to us in 2000 for the same price we paid in 1995. We have just 30 bottles remaining, at the original price $27.99/25/19.
While they do have a few entries into the so-called super premium category, Chateau Ste Michelle did not succumb to the madness that has beset so many domestic producers. I get the impression that here is a conglomerate that has given its winemaking arm free reign and a mandate to make quality wine in every price bracket at a fair profit. They always have made a significant effort to educate their distributors and any retailer who wishes to participate. They are building their brands on the basis of quality and value, not hype. I support them.
Rick Lewis
Scroll down to Winemaker Bob Bertheau's Response
Bob Bertheau, Chateau Ste Michelle's Winemaker, Responds
(Note: Bob did not make the 2001 wines - his first vintage at Chateau Ste Michelle was the 2003 - coming soon)
Hello Rick,
Really glad you enjoyed the Chardonnays, Rick. Your comments are highly regarded and spot on.
The Canoe Ridge (CR) Chard is stylized to be more restrained, elegant and more "seamless" in its expressions (including oak). The Cold Creek (CC) Chard is stylized to be more 'in your face', intense, and powerful. That also follows with the oak expression as well. I hope you see that oak expression is less obvious and better integrated in all the Chards from my initial vintage here at Ste. Michelle.
Three major points about the oak expression in the wines:
1) I have brought the %New oak down from 95%+ where it used to be. The CR Chard is down to about 40% New Oak, while the CC is at about 60%. That is one obvious point while the CR is less obvious.........the %New is lower.
2) Longer drawn out fermentations with different yeasts allow for better integration of the oak components as the yeast stay alive longer with the yeasts that I use. This allows the yeast more live contact time to integrate, or 'fine' out the harsher, more obvious oak tannins.
3) Different coopers all have different sensory impacts on the wines. I choose the spicier, elegant French coopers (Boutes, Remond) for the Canoe Ridge to match the style that the vineyard gives me. I choose more roast/toast, rich style of barrels to match the intense, powerful fruit from Cold Creek (Dargaud et Jaegle, Seguin Moreau).
Hope this explains things for you. Here is a little letter I wrote to our own folks to help them with the style cues, but retailers can certainly use it as well!
Bob Bertheau, Head Winemaker, Chateau Ste. Michelle
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To: Sellers, Buyers and Lovers of Chardonnay
From: Bob Bertheau
CBA!
Did you ever hear of the group espousing the sentiment "ABC?" You know……..Anything But Chardonnay……….folks that are tired of the heavy-handed, oak-splintery wines that you never want that second glass of(and sometimes, not even a first).
Well, with the grand launch of the Ste Michelle 2003 Chardonnays, we want to turn this group around, literally and figuratively. ABC…….turns around to CBA………Chardonnay, Back Again!
When I made my winemaking trek to Washington in summer of 2003 to start at the Chateau, I came on board with some ideas about how to change up the chardonnay programs. My ideas were a combination of what I felt the market was now wanting (or not wanting) along with my own personal touch with chardonnay styles and winemaking techniques from 18 years of making them.
Three key elements to be looking for in the 2003 Chardonnays:
Better separation of programs. If we are going to have 5 chardonnays, there needs to be obvious differences and talking points.
Better integrated oak. I have decreased (in some cases dramatically) the % of new oak AND using different yeast and stirring regimes to integrate the oak that is present. Oak is a spice, NOT the main ingredient.
Softer, more complex mouthfeels. In a corollary of the old saying - "It's the mouthfeel, stupid". Different yeasts, fining techniques and blending have all been changed with the common goal of softening up the palate impressions.
I think each wine also enjoys a "Mission Statement." These are key elements and styles that need to be kept in mind at every step of the winemaking process. Here are some mantras for my Chards:
Columbia Valley - "I'll have another glass, please." Soft, approachable and yet still complex for the price point.
Indian Wells - Rich, unctuous and tropical, this wine is from warmer climate Wahluke Slope Chard that gives it underlying texture and richness.
Canoe Ridge - From our windy, climate tempered vineyard overlooking the Columbia River, this wine shows higher tones of citrus and apple with elegance, breed and exceptional refinement.
Cold Creek - Tradition, power and structure are the key words to remember for the age-worthy wines from our oldest vineyard. Big, but not seeming overbearing, that is the challenge with these low yield, concentrated chardonnays.
Ethos - "Old World" complexity and style with our "New World" fruit. Nutty, complex and at the same time amazingly refined in the palate, this is my own personal statement about how world class I feel we can be in Washington with our Chardonnay.
I hope you all can see the direction we are heading with these wines and can become as excited selling them as I am in making them. Taste the wines as you read my emphasizing points. Take these points, ideas and style cues and personalize them to yourself as much as I have here at the Chateau.
Cheers!
Bob Visit madisonwineshop.com | Questions or comments? Email info@madisonwineshop.com
