De Bortoli Daydream Chardonnay 2014

From - Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia
Grape - Chardonnay
Alcohol - 12.5% abv
Avaliable from - Waitrose
Price - £9.99

Appearance - Clear, medium- intensity, lemon-green.

Nose - Clean, medium- intensity, youthful.  Green fruit (pears), citrus (lemon), sweet spice (vanilla).

Palate - Dry, high acidity, medium intensity, medium length, medium+ body, medium+ alcohol.  Citrus flavour of lemon and grapefruit, subtle notes of kernel (hazelnut) and smoky minerality.

Good quality.  Ready to drink now, but may benefit from some ageing.

A very agreeable Chardonnay for food and fine weather, grown in the cooler climate of Australia's Yarra Valley.  It has a subtle nose, but gives more on the palate, and has some complexity.  

Casa Valduga Leopoldina Chardonnay 2013

From - Campanha, Brazil
Grape - Chardonnay
Alc - 12%
Available from - Waitrose
Price £13.99 (although £10.11 until Tues 7th April)

Appearance - Clean; medium intensity; lemon-green

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; youthful; apple and stone fruit.

Palate - dry; high acid; medium alcohol, medium intensity; medium body, medium+ length, apples and pears, citrus (lemon) and tropical (kiwi).

This is a classy, elegant, cool climate Chardonnay.  Lovely fruit flavours with the oak influence being only subtle.  If this were made in France  it'd be much more expensive.  Excellent.

Many thanks to all my recent readers in Ukraine and Russia.

Domaine Begude Terroir 11300 Organic Chardonnay

From - Limoux, France
Grape - Chardonnay
Alcohol - 13%
Available from - Waitrose,
Price - £9.99

Appearance - Clear, medium intensity, golden.

Nose - Clean, medium intensity, youthful, green fruit (apple and pear), stone fruit (peach), minerality (stone)

Palate - Dry, medium+ acid, medium+ body, medium  alcohol, medium+ length.  Green fruit (apples and pears), citrus (lemon), minerality (stone).

Organically produced Chardonnay from a relatively cool part of the Languedoc, which allows slow ripening, and retention of acidity.  This is a classy one and ideal for an aperitif.  Really good, and well worth a tenner.

Laboure-Roi Mersault 2012

From - Burgundy, France
Grape - Chardonnay
Alcohol 13% abv
From - waitrose.com (not waitrosecellar.com)
Price - £16.99

Appearance - Pale, clear, gold

Nose - Clean, pronounced, tropical fruit (melon), green fruit (apple), citrus (lemon), stone fruit (melon).  Youthful

Palate - Dry, high acid, medium+ alcohol, medium+ body, medium+ intensity, long finish.  Citrus fruit (lemon), green fruit (apple), mineral (steely),

Conclusions -  good, can drink now but suitable for further ageing.  High priced.

This is really good, with great body, lots of zingy acid, and plenty of length.  I would imagine that this would be a bigger treat in a few years.  I imagine drinking this with something in a creamy sauce, for a great match.

Photo copyright Jenny Hynes 2015.

Graham Beck Chardonnay & Pinot Noir Brut NV

From - Western Cape, South Africa
Grape - Chardonnay; Pinot Noir
Alcohol - 12% abv
Available from - Waitrose; Majestic
Price - £13.99

Appearance - Clear; golden; medium intensity

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; apples, lemon, autolysis

Palate - Dry; medium+ acid; medium+ mousse; medium intensity;  medium body; medium alcohol; medium to medium+ length; apples, pears, lemon, bread, stone fruit developing as the temperature raises.

Balance - 8  Length - 7 Intensity - 6.5  Complexity - 7

A gorgeous wine that is superb value for money.  When first pouring it I was met with that familiar traditional method aroma of bread, with citrus and green fruit.  The palate was also thrilling, with more zing and acid than I anticipated, and made it even more reminiscent of Champagne, but at a much lower price.  Creamy, and very delicious,  this is excellent. If you like your bubbly then do not hesitate to try it.  Happy New Year to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to visit my blog or share my blog posts. I hope your 2015 is balanced, long, intense (in a good way) and complex (also in a good way)!

Tabali Encantado Reserva Chardonnay 2012

From - Limari, Chile
Grape - Chardonnay
Alcohol - 14% abv
Bought from - Waitrose
Price - £10

Appearance - Clear; pale; gold.  Strong legs from high alcohol

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; developing; apple and pear, tropical fruit, nutmeg

Palate - dry; med acidity; medium+ alcohol at least; medium intensity; medium + body; medium intensity; medium length; apple, lemon, sweet spice.

Balance - 5  Length - 6  Intensity - 6  Complexity - 7

This is a decent bottle of wine and the price is about right.  I prefer the nose to the palate, as for my taste the flavour of alcohol is a little dominant.  For this reason I think there is potential for the wine to develop.

First Press Napa Chardonnay 2010

From - First Press Wine Cellars, Manteca, Ca. USA
Grape - Chardonnay
Alcohol 13.5%
Available from - Waitrose
Price - £16.99 (although 20% off as I write)

Appearance - Clear; lemon-green; medium intensity

Nose - clean; medium- intensity; lime, apples and pears.

Palate - dry to off-dry; medium+ acid, medium+ alcohol; medium+ length; full body, medium intensity; apples and pears, melon.

Balance - 9 Length - 8 Intensity - 6 Complexity - 6

I have been looking forward to doing a proper review of this since May, my partner Jojo and I went to Haarlem and drank some great wine whilst there, but this one was our favourite.  Although this is described as dry, it is not, quite.  It has great mellow fruit flavours, and has a great, kind of buttery, creamy mouthfeel - a truly delightful palate, and a really great wine, I think.

Apparently there are people whom, due to a character on some stupid TV programme (Footballer's Wives, I think - I've never seen it), won't drink a Chardonnay due to there being a character with that as her name.  Those people are clearly of questionable judgement if they allow such nonsense to influence their wine choices, and as a result of this will miss out on a real treat with this one.  Still, that leaves more for the rest of us who think with our taste buds and noses and make our own minds up!

Waitrose Brut Special Reserve Vintage 2004

From - Champagne, France
Grape - Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay
Alcohol - 12.5%
Available from - Waitrose
Price - £30.99

Appearance - Clear; lemon-green; medium intensity.  Significant viscosity shown when swirling.

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; developing; autolytic aromas (yeasty), apples, limes.

Palate - medium+ acid, medium intensity, medium+ length, medium body; medium alcohol medium mousse.

Balance - 7  Length - 9  Intensity - 6  Complexity - 7

Decanter.com (wine enthusiast's magazine) gives 2004 Champagne 4 out of 5, and describes wines from that year as of 'outstanding quality with excellent balance and fruity acidity'.

It was exciting to have the opportunity (albeit at my own expense!) to taste and analyse a 2004 Champagne.  Although typically for Champagne this is rather dry and acidic, so would not be to everyone's taste, but I am enamoured by the lovely, warm, autolytic flavours and excellent length.  This is a high quality wine at a good price.

Nicolas Potel Pouilly Fuisse 2012

From - Burgundy, France
Grape - Chardonnay
Alcohol - 13%
Available from - waitrosecellar.com; uvinum.com
Price - £12.99

Appearance - Clear, golden, medium intensity

Nose - Clean; medium intensity; developing.  Apples, lemon, a touch of melon

Palate - Dry; medium acid; medium+ alcohol; medium+ body; medium intensity; medium+ length; apple and lemon.

Balance 7, Length 8,  Intensity 6, Complexity 5

This is a delicious Burgundy white.  I think it would improve in the bottle.  The nose is just a touch more intense than the palate.  I think that this would impress on a special occasion, and I think you're getting a classy bottle of wine for a pretty decent price.

Piper-Heidsieck NV Brut

From - Champagne, France
Grape - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Alcohol - 12%
Available from - Majestic
Price - £30

Appearance - clear; medium intensity; golden

Nose - Clean; medium intensity (maybe even a touch more); apple, lemon

Palate - Medium acid, medium alcohol, medium body, medium length; medium mousse; medium body. Lots of lemon, green fruit (apple), toasty-bready flavours from autolysis.

Quality - Good.  Drink now.

Balance - 9 Length - 7 Intensity - 6 Complexity - 6

This is a really nice wine.  I picked it up cheap (cheaper than shown above) as a bin-end but it is superior to some other NV Champagne that I have tried before.  It is very citrus and appley as one might expect, with the flavours expected from bottle fermentation making it very tasty.  I will post about autolysis separately.

Jojo said it made her think 'apple pie' - which is from the appley quality of the cooler climate Chardonnay, and the bready quality from the yeast.

It did not seem as acidic on the palate as I expected.

The 'balance' score, I assure you, was not contrived.  I contemplated scoring it 'medium+' for length, but I am confident that 'medium' is right.  Medium across the board on the palate makes it pretty balanced, but referring back to one of my early posts, balance isn't everything.

This is probably quite expensive at the full price for one bottle shown on Majestic's website, but I understand it is on fairly regular promotion.  A pleasant and very drinkable bottle of wine.