Wednesday, November 24, 2010

2009 Creme de Lys California Chardonnay, $11.99

OK. I was told by Bruce at Stew Leonard's that this wine was exceptional. The price made it hard to turn down. Besides, I'm always on the lookout for a good chardonnay.

To me, a good chardonnay is oakey. Buttery. Creamy. Smooth, too. (It would be perfect if the alcohol content were higher than 13%, but I can't have everything.) A good chardonnay should not taste like a sauvignon blanc. There's a name for a chardonnay that tastes acidic and sharp, and that name would be sauvignon blanc.

This chardonnay is beautiful in the glass, a buttery yellow color that slides down the side of the glass, leaving droplets behind. The back of the bottle says that this wine contains "tropical fruit, baked apple and citrus...[and] adds hints of vanilla and creme brulee on the finish." Delicious. On the nose, this wine smells soft, like vanilla & custard.

My God, this wine is totally - if I may borrow a phrase from Gary Vaynerchuk - "hedonistic on my palate." From the moment it passes over my list, I'm just dying with pleasure. I taste all those bursts of tropical & citrus fruit in my mouth, flanked by the creamy vanilla, followed by a smooth, custardey finish. I don't taste any baked apple, but whatever. When a wine tastes this good, you just throw on a side of baked apple & call it a day. Bring cinnamon.

The final kill-me-with-pleasure point? This wine clocks in with an alcohol content of 13.5%. Somebody upstairs was listening to me when I described my perfect chard. Well, this one may not be perfect, but it's awfully frickin' close. Check out www.cremedelys.com for more details. And please, pass the cinnamon.

Cheers!
Kate

No comments:

Post a Comment