Wine & Spirits - October 2021 - 61

Year's Best US Chardonnay
cradles sunny, bright apple fruit. Decant this,
then pour for roast Jidori chicken. -P.J.C.
(25 cases) §
92 | White Walnut
$55
2019 Dundee Hills Worden Hill Road
Chardonnay ^ This young wine leads with a
demonstrative leesy note of hazelnuts and
caramel. It has a remarkably tense and lean
texture, driven by angular, citrusy acidity. It's
buzzing with energy, but a bit unresolved;
still, you'll appreciate the tension and firm
phenolic grip with butter-roasted salmon.
-P.J.C. (50 cases) §
91 | Chehalem
$40
2018 Dundee Hills Reserve Chardonnay
^ The Chehalem Reserve is fermented in
French oak barrels (20 percent new), then
settled in tank and on lees after about five
months. It's delightfully fresh right out of the
gate, with scents of Fuji apples and Meyer
lemon. The flavors are deeper, with a whiff
of oak giving a caramelly backnote. This is
still young; cellar it, then serve with crudo.
-P.J.C. (250 cases) §
91 | White Walnut
$40
2018 Dundee Hills Chardonnay ^ White
Walnut's appellation bottling is redolent of
lees, nuts, smoke, ginger and a touch of bread
crust. All of this is in the service of tense fruit,
lemon curd and tart apple, with a pleasing
fleshiness that the leesy frame holds in check.
-P.J.C. (142 cases) §
91 | Dom. Drouhin Oregon $35
2019 Dundee Hills Arthur Chardonnay ^
Rich and round, this is packed with juicy
apple and nutty lees flavor. There's a curious
spice note, like turmeric, rendering the
finish lean, slightly dusty, and on point for a
wild mushroom pasta. -P.J.C. (2,658 cases) §
90 | Nysa
$40
2017 Dundee Hills Chardonnay ^ With a few
years in bottle, this estate-grown chardonnay
has developed concentrated richness. it
smells of caramel and vanilla frosting backing
up pear fruit. The flavors aren't sweet but
mouth filling, balanced on the ripe side for
those who like them rich. -P.J.C. (50 cases) §
90 | White Walnut
$55
2018 Dundee Hills Worden Hill Road
Chardonnay ^ Nutty and rich, this wine is
made in a lees-forward style. With time in
the glass it reveals golden apple and pear flavors,
with a golden-syrup richness. It finishes
dry and on point for something savory, like
mushroom pizza. -P.J.C. (25 cases) §
95 | Walter Scott
$55
2019 Eola-Amity Hills X Novo Vineyard
Chardonnay ^ X Novo, Craig Williams' postNapa
viticultural experiment in Oregon, is
fast becoming one of the most unique vineyard
sites in the Willamette Valley, with its
east-facing rows planted in a clonal array as
diverse as any in the region, perhaps in the
country. In 2019, working with Williams'
chardonnay, Ken Pahlow created a wine of
exceptional complexity and layering. The
wine flaunts a flinty, lees-contact savor even
as it nestles into complex fruit character,
lemon curd, hazelnuts, lime, the greenest
of apple. The texture is tense and taut, with
brisk acids informed by all that lees character.
Already a stunner, there's no doubt it will
age its way into still more complexity. -P.J.C. §
94 | Walter Scott
$40
2019 Eola-Amity Hills Cuvée Anne Chardonnay
^ Ken Pahlow typically blends this
wine from sources throughout the Willamette
Valley; in 2019, he limited the fruit to
the Eola Hills. It's classic Walter Scott chardonnay
in most ways-smoky, flinty, redolent
of nutty lees and matchstick sharpness.
The palate is lean and lovely, the golden
apple in the attack starts off rich only to gain
tartness in the middle, so that the finish feels
cinched, like a waistline stitch. Impressive.
-P.J.C. §
92 | Archery Summit
$48
2018 Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay ^ Winemaker
Ian Burch manages this chardonnay's
savory components with aplomb. It's flinty
and bright, with a nutty lees note and a fine
caramelly oak scent overlying pear and apple
flavors. It's sumptuous and focused at once.
For roast chicken. -P.J.C. (788 cases) §
EOLA-AMITY HILLS
95 | Lingua Franca
92 | Argyle
$90
2017 Eola-Amity Hills Sisters Chardonnay
^ Larry Stone's named his reserve blend
for his mother and aunt. This 2017 is made
in precisely the same way as the 2018 (also
recommended here). It's more polished and
reserved than the precocious 2018, leaning
into the nutty lees and oak notes as the wine
has become more compact and serene. The
fruit feels bright but composed, mellowed
into a graceful succulence. Like the '18, it is
still years from its peak expression. -P.J.C.
(356 cases) §
$45
2019 Eola-Amity Hills Nuthouse Chardonnay
^ The coolness of this estate vineyard
shows through in this fine-boned white. In
its initial scent the wine is nutty, with bright
apple flavors, hinting at richness. But the texture
is vibrant and tense, shimmering with
citrusy energy and mouthwatering acidity-
P.J.C. (375 cases) §
92 | Cristom
$40
2019 Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay ^ Toasty
with a lean oak frame, this smoky chardonnay's
aromas are mildly oaked at first. But
the flavors are refreshing, lean and balanced,
with an oyster-shell duskiness that suggests
a pairing with shellfish, particularly seared
scallops. -P.J.C. §
92 | Lavinea
$60
2018 Eola-Amity Hills Elton Vineyard
Chardonnay ^ This wine's scents of white
flowers and lemon have a caramel frame,
with a hint of smoky lees. Its reductive character
lends elegance, and its nutty savor will
pair well with scallops in brown butter.-
P.J.C. (322 cases) §
91 | Bethel Heights
$75
2018 Eola-Amity Hills Casteel Chardonnay
^ Scents of pear and lemon curd develop
with air toward more tropical accents of pineapple
and mango. This wine is open and generous,
lavish in its oak, needing time for that
oak to knit. -P.J.C. (283 cases) §
91 | Bethel Heights
$32
2018 Eola-Amity Hills Estate Chardonnay
^ Firm and smoky, with a bready scent
that contributes firmness and persistence,
this wine's tart apple briskness offsets the
lees and oak savor. It would back up a seafood
feast, like salmon and herbs roasted in
parchment. -P.J.C. (363 cases) §
91 | Division
Oc TO b ER 2021
WINE & SPIR IT S
$35
2019 Eola-Amity Hills Deux Eola Springs
Vineyard Chardonnay ^ Bright and hightoned,
with lemon-lime scents, this is so
61
https://www.cristomvineyards.com
Wine & Spirits - October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - October 2021
