Wine & Spirits - October 2019 - 53

YEAR'S BEST US CHARDONNAYS
saline flavors that turn nutty, generous and
succulent with air. It has the stuffing to age
for a half-dozen years at least, if you can
resist. (950 cases) -P.J.C.
517692
$50

adorned by a mild whiff of leesy smoke. Yet it
feels pure and fresh, with a tension between
the savor of the aromas and the ripeness of
the fruit. Cellar it for a year to let it shed
some baby fat. (215 cases) -P.J.C.
517552

2016 Ribbon Ridge Ribbon Springs Vineyard Chardonnay ^ From one of Adelsheim's
estate vineyards, this wine is exceptionally
fresh and lemony bright, with a mineral bite
that suggests itself even in the aroma. With
air, scents of lees, pear and citrus take center stage, offering tension but also elegance.
With its warm bread-crust freshness, and a
sense of minerality lining the texture like a
film of fine chalk, this wine incites an appetite for oysters. (175 cases) -P.J.C.

2017 McMinnville Winemaker Series
Chardonnay ^ Drawn largely from Wente
clone (108) fruit, this is compact and firm,
tight as a drawn fist, taking a day to uncoil.
Then it delivers an elegant package of Meyer
lemon, mango and pear, generous and
bright, with an edge of salinity that adds a
pleasing mineral bite. For lake trout, cooked
over a campfire. (60 cases) -P.J.C.
517255

94 | Adelsheim

93 | Hyland Estates

92 | The Eyrie Vineyards

$55

$27

2017 Dundee Hills Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^
Eyrie's chardonnays are always idiosyncratic,
this one with scents of pine and orange and
flavors of apple and preserved lemon. While
it feels broad and warm, its fruit is bound up
by a salty succulence that renders it somewhat square-shouldered and distant until
it's had a day of air. It's an exotic pairing for
plank-roasted char. -P.J.C.
518176
518042

94 | Geodesy

$75

2017 Chehalem Mountains Chehalem
Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay ^ This is
a spectacular debut for a new winery project with a charity focus; it's headed by Judy
Jordan, formerly of J Winery, with vineyard
sources in the Napa and Willamette valleys.
This cuvée is elegant and leesy, with beguiling aromatics of bread crust, white peach and
lemon curd. It feels exceptionally pure in its
flavors, which are long and deep, detailed
and fine, propelled to a finish of almost crystalline precision. (59 cases) -P.J.C.
517409

94 | Walter Scott

$40

2017 Willamette Valley Cuvée Anne Chardonnay ^ Blended from five of Walter Scott's
best chardonnay vineyards, this wine starts
off nutty and a bit flinty, a whiff of matchstick
on its white-peach scents that recedes on the
second day open. Then it's bright and tense,
citrusy and mineral at once ("lemon dust,"
said one taster), with all the detail that such
an incongruity implies. Focused and balanced, it's a wine to savor with roast halibut,
capers and olives. (475 cases) -P.J.C.
517403

94 | Walter Scott

$55

2017 Willamette Valley Freedom Hill
Vineyard Chardonnay ^ There's a bit more
warmth in this chardonnay than in Walter
Scott's Cuvée Anne, the Meyer lemon flavors

92 | Lingua Franca

$40

92 | Phelps Creek

$34

2017 Willamette Valley Avni Chardonnay ^
Larry Stone draws this wine from three Oregon appellations, the preponderance from
the Eola-Amity Hills. It's firm and well structured, with a drive and lift that combines
high acid and high minerality to make the
flavors feel as sharp as a tack. This needs time
and a decanter to bring out the fruit. (1,300
cases) -P.J.C.
518025
2017 Columbia Gorge Chardonnay (Best
Buy) ^ Burgundy winemaker Alexandrine Roy
makes this chardonnay from a cool Underwood Mountain vineyard in the Gorge. It's
made in a reductive style, all matchstick and
biscuits, the lees contributing buttery flavor
and texture. This needs some time in the cellar to unpack; then serve it with mushroom
pasta. -P.J.C.
515035

91 | Hyland Estates

$45

91 | Iris

$40

91 | Phelps Creek

$38

91 | Trisaetum

$49

2017 McMinnville Single Vineyard Chardonnay ^ From one of Oregon's oldest chardonnay vineyards, this offers an intriguing
mix of nut and herb flavors, notes of pine tips
and hazelnuts framing a juicy core of tropical
fruit. It's a mouthwatering match for roast
chicken (294 cases) -P.J.C.
514383
2015 Willamette Valley Arete Chalice
Estate Chardonnay ^ Crisp and tense when
first poured, this takes on a crusty, doughy
lees note to complement its golden-apple
scents. The flavors are generous and refined
at once, a saline freshness giving shape to the
juicy fruit. (W&S 12/18)-P.J.C.
518024
2016 Columbia Gorge Lynette Chardonnay ^ Named for owner Bob Morus's wife, this
chardonnay is sleek and salty, with savory
scents of peach and white flowers, and tart,
lemony flavors. It's tense and tightly wound,
to decant for lemon chicken. -P.J.C.
517460
2017 Ribbon Ridge Ribbon Ridge Estate
Chardonnay ^ This wine leads with a smoky,
toasty savor accenting a green-pea-shoot
scent that gives way to tense, mouthwatering citrus flavor. It's pure, elegant and bright;
for salt-and-pepper squid. (100 cases) -P.J.C.

517616

91 | Willamette Valley
Vineyards

$30

90 | Benton-Lane

$45

2017 Willamette Valley Estate Chardonnay (Best Buy) ^ Salty and bright, this wine
feels sleek and poised, developing caramelly
lees notes with air. It has the elegance and
harmony to be appreciated on its own, or
with grilled shellfish, like shrimp. (1,000
cases) -P.J.C.
516594

2016 Willamette Valley Tualatin Estate
Chardonnay ^ Bright and nutty when first
poured, this broadens as it takes on air in the
glass, building toward rich notes of roasted
apple and toasted lees. The acids shore up the
richness into a fresh, delineated finish. (W&S
2/19; 368 cases) -P.J.C.
517553

2017 Willamette Valley First Class Chardonnay ^ Scents of cinnamon and apple play
into tart and juicy flavors. This has a pleasing, nutty succulence, the textures fresh and
broad at once, mildly smoky, calling for
grilled escolar. (W&S 8/19; 140 cases)-P.J.C.
517823

92 | Willamette Valley
Vineyards

WINE & SPIRITS

OCTOBER 2019

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Wine & Spirits - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - October 2019