Synopsis, Our Opinion: Barely passible and it’s strong point was simply the low price.
Producer/Winery: Estancia Vineyards; Acampo, California.
Grape Variety: Chardonnay.
Geographic Appellation, Region, Country: Monterey County; Central Coast, California.
Vintage: 2018
Price: $9.11 (with a 25% mixed case discount)
Purchased From: Harris Teeter Grocery Store; Kernersville, North Carolina.
Paired With: Bow-tie pasta and beef meatballs in cream sauce with green peas.
Tasting:
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Note: Every now and again, when we find a good sale, we purchase wine we know nothing about from the grocery store. This is one of those sale-price “pig in a poke” grocery store wines; however in this case we were familiar with this wine having had it many years ago (see: Estancia Charsdonnay 2008) and it has changed. Our first review reported it as oaked, having an astringent bouquet and we did not recommend it.
Chilled before drinking. Clear, glicerin like, with a VERY LIGHT wheat straw color. Faint herbaceous aromas with just a touch of lemon. Smooth start then quickly turning to an unusual bitter mouthfeel, medium body and a 60-grit texture. Quite strong bitter crab apple, California grapefruit and lemon flavors with ripe Rhone apple tastes in the background after mid-palate. Plenty of fresh acidity and a finish that continues the flavors with a peppery ingredient in the aftertaste. An unusual Chardonnay that has lots of fresh acidity, but filled with bitterness from start to finish. It was drinkable, not sweet and dramatically different with food as the acidity cut through the heavy cream sauce. Even at the $9 price point it barely gets a recommended rating because there are probably many better similarly priced Chardonnays on the grocery store shelf next to this one. Twenty years ago when California Chardonnay had LOTS of butter and oak we thought it was a reasonably good value; however, we called this one barely passible and it’s strong point was simply the low price.
Photo from Estancia Vineyards
Comments: Learn more about Estancia Vineyards and their wines.
See our reviews of other Estancia wines.
Alcohol Content: 13.5%
Closure: Aluminum covered 45mm reconstructed cork.
UPC Code: 0 83085 30058 6
Imported by: Not applicable.