CHARDONNAY-MOI

JOEL L. FLEISHMAN

Choosing the white wine of choice

Wine

Chardonnay has become nearly everyone's white wine of choice, and producers are falling all over one another to take advantage of the trend. Understandably, the demand has created a shortage of Chardonnay grapes. In California the average price per ton rose from about $900 in 1986 to $1,200 in 1988. Grapes from the best-known, highest-quality growing regions can command as much as $2,000 per ton. And good wines which could be had for $8 a bottle two years ago are now $10 to $12, with comparable increases all down the line. A whole flock of Chardonnays sell for more than $20, and some of the most select command more than $30.

At those prices it pays to know what you're getting for your money, so this column's blind comparison of seventy Chardonnays should be of more than passing interest.

Only the top wines in the tasting are mentioned here, for reasons of space. The currently available vintage for most wineries is 1987, but for others it is 1986; wines from both years were represented, as well as some from 1985 and 1984 for purposes of vertical comparison.

Chalone's 1987 Chardonnay ($22) is among the best ever, wonderfully lean and dry, with a powerful lemon/ tobacco nose and complex lime and tobacco flavors in the mouth. One of the miracles of Chalone is how gorgeous its Chardonnays taste both early and late. Six hours after opening, having been left uncorked at room temperature, the wine was every bit as vigorous as at first. Indeed, on retasting eighteen hours after opening, it had become even more impressive with new apple and pineapple flavors, and with a long, spicy, orangerind finish.

Kalin Cellars cannot boast Chalone's twenty-year track record, but in half that time it has produced one amazing Chardonnay after another, earning for itself a reputation of reverent awe among the cognoscenti. The 1987 Cuvee DD ($22) opens with a deep tangerine/jasmine nose, follows through with a fresh, spicy combination of tobacco and orange blossoms, and closes with a soft but vigorous finish of jasmine and orange. On second retasting, all of those flavors were intact and voluptuous. The 1986 Kalin Cuvee L ($22) was easily the best of the twenty 1986 Chardonnays in the tasting. Its sparkling-clean lemon/tobacco bouquet heralds a mouthful of sweet lemon and tobacco, followed by a sweet lemon finish.

In the last ten years Long Vineyards has succeeded in creating a Chardonnay signature of its own, with potions of seductive richness. Long's 1987 ($27) is like its predecessors, with vigorous caramel flavors infused with essences of clean tobacco and fresh lime.

Mayacamas's mountain-grown Chardonnays are lean, astringent, and austere. Their steely lemon and dark tobacco flavors are much enhanced by age, and they are the most vigorous and longest-lived American Chardonnays I know. After seven or eight years they acquire a patina of richness that cushions the astringent flavors and burnishes the whole into a masterpiece of dry, intense, serene elegance. Those who find pleasure in bracing Chardonnays love the young Mayacamases, but they are more to the general taste when they are mature. The 1985 ($20) has a nose of soft caramel and apple blossoms, with medium-bodied, spicy apple and tobacco flavors in the mouth. Eighteen hours after opening, it had evolved into a wine with dry and clean tobacco, lime, and melon essences and a long, dry, spicy finish.

DeLoach Vineyards' Chardonnays, on the other hand, seem to overflow with forward, rich, sweet fruit flavors that coddle the palate when young. Its 1987 Russian River Valley, at $14 the least expensive of the top wines in the tasting, has a backward nose of citrus and a bit of caramel, followed by rich, medium-bodied flavors of lemon, tobacco, and honey in the mouth, with a tobacco-and-lemon finish. When we retasted all seventy wines eighteen hours after opening, it was the best. The DeLoach O.F.S. ($20), that winery's reserve, is even more striking, with sweet lime, melon, and tobacco flavors of greater intensity and focus.

Other exceptional 1986s are Trefethen ($16; full-bodied, spicy), Raymond Napa ($14; sweet apple, peppery lemon), Grgich Hills ($22; lime and tobacco), Iron Horse ($15; robust dry tobacco, caramel), Robert Mondavi Reserve ($27; Burgundian, yeasty, melony), Hess Collection ($13; spicy tobacco), Guenoc Valley Premier Cuvee ($17; intense, sweet lemon), and Ferrari-Carano ($14; tart, spicy lemon and caramel).

Among the standout 1987s were La Crema Reserve ($18; bracing rich lemon, caramel, and tobacco), Edna Valley ($14; complex, honey-tinged), KendallJackson Proprietor's Reserve ($20; sweet, ripe pineapple and viscous), Kistler Dutton Ranch ($18; lime and caramel, full-bodied), Stag's Leap Wine Cellars ($18; sweet citrus), Chateau Woltner St. Thomas Vineyard ($36; deep, complex, lingering), Buena Vista Cameras ($11; clean lemon and tobacco), and Raymond California ($11; apple blossoms).