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!

Bouchard Pere et Fils Beaune du Chateau Premier Cru

From - Burgundy, France
Grape - Chardonnay
Alc - 13.5%
Price - £25.99 (currently £20.99)
From - waitrosecellar.com

Appearance - Clean, medium intensity, lemon.

Nose - Clean; medium+ intensity; developed; lime; herbs and spice, maybe gooseberry?

Palate - dry, medium to medium+ acid; medium+ body; medium intensity.  Apples, limes, mineral, medium+ length.  Silky.

Quality - very good, higher price.

Ready to drink, but can improve.

Balance - 8 Length - 8 Intensity - 6 Complexity - 7

This is an interesting wine.  It is quite high priced but there are subtle characteristics that mean you get a feeling for it being higher quality.

There is a silky-smooth mouth-feel, a good bit of length, and nice minerality (if you like that, not everyone does).  The citrus flavour is the most full-on, so it's important to savour it to consider the other aspects.

A really agreeable point is the fact that the balance is very good, and the experience of drinking it got better and better as the bottle went down, backing up the comments that I made previously about the considered importance of balance.

With a wine with subtle complexity like this, it is important to allow the temperature to raise a little from chilled to lightly chilled, as a very cold serving temperature can inhibit flavour.

I did enjoy this wine very much, but it is expensive.