Carmel Road 2008 Chardonnay

I thought I would write a short note about a wine I tried the other night. I worked at a wine shop for 5 years and was an avid, eh hem, "taster"-shall we say. The shop hosted weekly wine tastings and I attended them all.  My palette was quite seasoned and I felt I could give a shpeel about any wine in the store. In short: I was a wine geek, an oenophile if you will. Then my wine days wound down when I was pregnant and could no longer taste. 

So, I thought it was time to get my palette back into shape. I hope to write about the wines I try in this blog.

2008 Carmel Road Chardonnay.

 It is a 2008 from Monterey CA, which is South of Napa and Sonoma but still central coast. California Chards have always been known for over top buttery richness. More recently Chardonnay producers, while still producing crowd pleasing butter bombs, have been toning down the butter and focusing on the grapes natural fruit flavors. When its not bogged down with butter, chardonnay has wonderful warm tropical fruit notes like pineapple and coconut.

This wine retails for about $16. I felt that the wine was a bit hot, meaning, it had too much alcohol. 14% is quite high for a white wine and it can take away the true essence of the fruit. The wine had lovely, creamy pineapple and crisp pear notes. It in the front it felt round and I could detect vanilla amongst the oak, but finished thin probably due to the high alcohol. Traditionally Chardonnay's are hard to pair with food but I had it last night with blackened tilapia fillets and lime, cilantro mayonnaise. It might also go well with grilled swordfish  or scallops. 

To sum up, I wasn't overly impressed for the price I paid, but I thought it was decent. I ended up finishing the bottle.