Frank Family Vineyards
Chardonnay
Napa Valley
Calistoga, California, USA2007
14.4%
$23.99 [usually around $30] -- Grapevine Market, Austin, TX
Color: Medium golden yellow
Nose: Buttery violets
Body: Full
Front: Ripe apple, lime
Middle: Butter, pear
Back: Caramel, oak
Burns clean?: Yes
Cap: Cork
As I've said before, the Frank Family wines are damn tasty. Their Chardonnay is rich but balanced, complex but friendly. It's a sexy wine, if such a metaphor could be used (I seem to recall sort of doing so in writing about their Cabernet).
There are so many flavors in here that I can't describe; it drinks like a much more expensive wine. And remember, Frank Family is one of the few outfits in Napa that still doesn't charge for tastings. This is great with food, and lots of different palates like it -- though don't feed it to friends who claim to just totally hate oak or butter in their Chardonnays; it, and many of your other good wines, will be wasted on them until this phase of popular mimicry passes.
