[wine] Got Wood, Town Talk

Looking to be at Town Talk this week. Back up is Arezzo. Vin du jour is in Bill's able hands. Bill Dave Lori Jim/Louise Warren/Ruth Betsy Bob Russ/Sue I'll be off line until wedesday. C, J ----- Forwarded message from The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> ----- Authentication-Results: smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu from=wine(a)wineloverspage.com; sender-id=neutral; spf=neutral Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 12:39:39 -0400 (EDT) To: jellings(a)me.umn.edu Subject: 30SecWineAdvisor: Oak and Chardonnay From: The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> X-Sender: <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> X-Greylist: IP, sender and recipient auto-whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu [128.101.142.227]); Mon, 12 May 2008 11:36:59 -0500 (CDT) X-Spam-Score: 0 () X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.57 on 128.101.142.227 THE 30 SECOND WINE ADVISOR, Monday, May 12, 2008 ________________________________________________________________________ TODAY'S SPONSOR * CONNOISSEURS' SERIES This exceptional program brings you the kind of rare, limited-production California jewels that are often available only on tightly allocated mailing lists. Call The California Wine Club at 1- 800-777-4443 to join or learn more. http://www.cawineclub.com/connseries ________________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE * OAK AND CHARDONNAY Today we take another look at a perennial wine question: Does Chardonnay need oak? * DUTTON GOLDFIELD 2004 DUTTON RANCH RUED VINEYARD RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY CHARDONNAY ($45) From Connoisseurs' Series: From Connoisseurs' Series: Butter, smoke and tropical fruit reveal a New World style, but it's handled very well indeed. * A TO Z 2006 OREGON CHARDONNAY ($16.99) Delicious Chardonnay presents an oak-free balance of clean fruit and subtle minerality. * THIS WEEK ON WINELOVERSPAGE.COM Jorge Eduardo Castillo offers ways to make wine with dinner more exciting; Randy Buckner reviews 100 new releases; and our WineLovers Discussion Group debates the value of vacuum wine-preservation accessories. * ADMINISTRIVIA Change E-mail address, frequency, format or unsubscribe. ________________________________________________________________________ OAK AND CHARDONNAY A few months ago, we took a close look at a perennial wine question: Does Chardonnay need oak? Today let's return to this issue, prompted by recent tastings of an Oregon Chardonnay that expresses the "un-wooded" style with unusual purity; and a higher-end California Chardonnay that's undeniably opulent in the oak-and-butter style but carries it off with grace thanks to its complexity and balance. The un-oaked example, A to Z 2006 Oregon Chardonnay, takes an unusually pleasant approach to Chardonnay for my tastes. In many New World regions, Chardonnay au naturel can be a bit fat and soft, a combination that can benefit from a kiss of oak to give it structure. A to Z's Oregon model, however, is in no way pudgy. Clean and fresh, true fresh- apple flavors, subtle minerality and crisp acidity comes together in a package that needs no oak. Today's oaked example, Dutton Goldfield 2004 Dutton Ranch Rued Vineyard Russian River Valley Chardonnay, one of this month's offerings from California Wine Club's excellent, high-end Connoisseurs' Series, presents plenty of butter and a dollop of smoky oak in a distinct New World style. But it's made well, with subtle balance and intriguing complexity that brings these flavors together in a stylish combination. Oak or no oak? With wines as well-made and delicious as these two, there's no reason for debate: I'm happy either way. ________________________________________________________________________ DUTTON GOLDFIELD 2004 DUTTON RANCH RUED VINEYARD RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY CHARDONNAY ($45 retail; $40 per bottle for half or full case orders by Connoisseurs' Series members) Clear light gold. Butter, smoke and tropical fruit reveal a New World style, but it's handled very well indeed, rich on the palate but fully dry and properly acidic, complex and textured. With relatively restrained 13.7% alcohol and excellent balance, this is an exceptional California Chardonnay, opulent but balanced, even elegant. A fine match with a thick, pan-roasted pork chop. Only 564 cases were made. Winery Website: http://www.duttongoldfield.com/ (May 3, 2008) FIND THIS WINE ONLINE: The Dutton Goldfield 2004 Rued Vineyard Chardonnay is part of this month's shipment in California Wine Club's Connoisseurs' Series and is available for additional orders by Connoisseurs' Series members. Call 1-800-777-4443 to join or learn more. ________________________________________________________________________ A TO Z 2006 OREGON CHARDONNAY ($16.99) "No Wood," the label proclaims, and this transparent straw color wine does present a clean expression of Chardonnay, fresh and subtle apple aromas as pure as the scent of slicing into a fresh Granny Smith. Crisp apple flavors plus a hint of lime and a touch of stony minerality; dry and tart, nicely shaped by mouth-watering acidity. I'm not always a fan of unwooded Chardonnays, which sometimes come across too neutral, but that's no problem with this delicious wine with its good balance of clean fruit and subtle minerality. (May 9, 2008) FOOD MATCH: A natural match for freshwater fish. It was fine with walleye fillets baked with a topping of cornmeal, Parmigiano-Reggiano and fragrant West African "grains of paradise" pepper. VALUE: The middle teens represent a fair range for this very good unwooded Chardonnay. WHEN TO DRINK: No great rush, but I don't see it as a candidate for cellaring. WEB LINK: For the winery fact sheet on this Chardonnay, click http://www.atozwineworks.com/chard.html FIND THIS WINE ONLINE: Unfortunately, because of its single letters, "A to Z" does not appear to be searchable on Wine-Searcher.com. To locate distributors in many states of the U.S., see the winery Website, http://www.atozwineworks.com/distributors.html ________________________________________________________________________ TALK ABOUT WINE ONLINE If you have questions, comments or ideas to share about today's article or wine in general, you're always welcome to drop by our online WineLovers Discussion Group. This link will take you to the forum home page, where you can read discussions in all the forum sections: http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village Everyone is free to browse. If you'd like to post a comment, question or reply, you must register, but registration is free and easy. Do take care to register using your real name, or as a minimum, your real first name and last initial. Anonymous registrations are quietly discarded. To contact me by E-mail, write wine(a)wineloverspage.com. I'll respond personally to the extent that time and volume permit. ________________________________________________________________________ PRINT OUT TODAY'S ARTICLE Here's a simply formatted copy of today's Wine Advisor, designed to be printed out for your scrapbook or file or downloaded to your PDA or other wireless device. http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/2008/05/oak_and_chardonnay-print… ________________________________________________________________________ THIS WEEK ON WINELOVERSPAGE.COM * VINO 101: Thinking Out of the Box People want to have fun when they go out to dinner. Jorge Eduardo Castillo suggests some creative ways to provide his guests an unexpectedly fun experience. http://www.wineloverspage.com/vino101/outofthebox08.phtml * BUCKO'S WINE REPORTS: 100 new wines With warm spring and summer days around the corner, our attention turns to crisp white wines and friendly reds. Randy "Bucko" Buckner reports on wines from $6 to $105, sure to fit any occasion and pocketbook. http://www.wineloverspage.com/bucko/bucko0508.phtml * WINELOVERS DISCUSSION GROUP: Vacu-Vin: Does it work? A reader's question about the Vacu-Vin (and other wine-preservation systems that work by using a plastic pump to remove some air from a partially consumed bottle) generates a spirited discussion on our WineLovers Discussion Group. Read the conversation, and join in, at this link: http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15656 ________________________________________________________________________ LAST WEEK'S WINE ADVISOR INDEX The Wine Advisor's daily edition is usually distributed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (and, for those who subscribe, the FoodLetter on Thursdays). Here's the index to last week's columns: * The World of Wine in 2058 (May 9, 2008) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/tswa20080509.php * Fine, affordable Malbec (May 7, 2008) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/tswa20080507.php * Bits and pieces (May 5, 2008) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/tswa20080505.php * Complete 30 Second Wine Advisor archive: http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/archives.php * Wine Advisor FoodLetter: Pork chops Li�goise (May 1, 2008) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/food/tsfl20080501.php * Wine Advisor Foodletter archive: http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/food/archives.php ________________________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIBE: * WineLoversPage.com RSS Feed (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/rss/ * 30 Second Wine Advisor, daily or weekly (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/index.shtml * Wine Advisor FoodLetter, Thursdays (free) http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor/foodletter.shtml ARCHIVES: For all past editions: http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/archives.php CONTACT US E-mail: wine(a)wineloverspage.com SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: For information, E-mail wine(a)wineloverspage.com ________________________________________________________________________ ADMINISTRIVIA To subscribe or unsubscribe from The 30 Second Wine Advisor, change your E-mail address, switch from weekly to daily distribution, or for any other administrative matters, click to http://www.wineloverspage.com/admin.php?id=20970&cs=7d1109b668af1f87d36… We welcome feedback, suggestions, and ideas for future columns. We do not use this list for any other purpose and will never give or sell your name or E-mail to anyone. All the wine-tasting reports posted here are consumer-oriented. In order to maintain objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest, I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry. Monday, May 12, 2008 Copyright 2008 by Robin Garr. All rights reserved. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *