Byron Vineyards and Winery
Chardonnay
Santa Maria Valley
Santa Maria, California2005
14.5%
$24.88 -- Whole Foods, Austin, TX
Color: Medium gold
Nose: Apricot, pretzels, lime
Body: Full
Front: Melon, citrus
Middle: French bread, peach
Back: Cream, lemongrass
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork
The nose on this wine was immediately striking, and delightful. This is a fruit basket, for sure; the ripeness is almost so powerful as to be salty. I like it! If you want something limey and steely, steer clear of this one; if you want a great opener with some stiff soft cheeses, it'll be awesome.
It'll be a bit of a showdown, I think, between this wine and the lentil and sweet Italian sausage stew that I'm making. I just preemptively tried it with dessert--blackberries--and the wine crushed the blackberry flavor out of existence, like, "Seriously, freshman, back to the bench with you." Damn.
