WTN: 04 St Innocent Chard & 05 Bouchard Bourgogne

2004 St. Innocent Chardonnay Freedom Hill
The nose is light. Does not jump out of the glass. A stony nose mixed with light flowers and pears. I didn’t have any detailed notes from the last time I tried this but the wine seems to be becoming softer. Still a good amount of acid but the texture is so mouth coating, I would like a touch more. There is a lot of richness here. I know there is zero new oak but had I not known, I would have guessed 25-50%. There is a very nice long finish that has pineapples and coconuts making an appearance. Can you say Rupert Holmes? 88 pts

2005 Bouchard Pere & Fils Bourgogne $14!
I wanted to pop my second bottle of this to get a better picture of this bargain. I didn’t take notes on the first go around.
The nose has lots of fruit but is like it has a blanket over it at this time. On the second day and after being in my glass for 30 minutes, the wine became more expressive. The fruit is at the fore but it is not absent of flowers. It’s not like you are in the middle of a rose garden…but you can see it. At the front of the mouth, you get cherries and strawberries. The finish has a nice amount of minerals and tannin. A killer bargain and a nice wine for someone that would like to try Burgundy. It is a nice transition from bigger Cali fruit because of the relatively big ripe fruit on this. This pinot needs a few years for the fruit to settle down and the tannins to resolve. I am going to grab a few more and leave alone for 3 years. I look forward to trying a $14 05 Burgundy in 2010. 87 pts

Cheers,
Jason

The Burgundy sounds like a great bargain. Thanks for the note.

[Jenise]

So that's an escapist chardonnay?

So that's an escapist chardonnay?

If you like pina coladas...

J

[Jenise]

I once saw that mentioned as possibly the most irritating song ever written. Was surprised, as I rather liked it. Probably because I'm a sucker for romantic, happy endings.

ANYWAY, good observation about the way you'd guess there's new oak on the FH, I've thought the same. And it's comforting, because I have trouble being able to tell sometimes on chardonnay, and I tend not to mind oak on chardonnays and posts like yours suggest that it's not all in my head.

And, thanks for the tip on the Bouchard.

[David M. Bueker]

...and getting caught in the rain...

Interesting note on the St. I Chard. I find them too oaky for my taste most of the time.

...and getting caught in the rain...

That's it ... you have now stuck this in my head of the obligatory 33.7 hours.

Interesting note on the St. I Chard. I find them too oaky for my taste most of the time.

Strange because I think 25% new is the most he uses and as I said, zero on this one. Do you think that just gets picked up from the used oak?

I do notice more as time goes on. At release I think these show nice acidity and not much butteryness.

Jason

[David M. Bueker]

...and getting caught in the rain...

That's it ... you have now stuck this in my head for the obligatory 33.7 hours.

Interesting note on the St. I Chard. I find them too oaky for my taste most of the time.

Strange because I think 25% new is the most he uses and as I said, zero on this one. Do you think that just gets picked up from the used oak?

I do notice more as time goes on. At release I think these show nice acidity and not much butteryness.

Jason

I never knew... what was going on, but I just found them oaky. Admittedly I don't take detailed notes on the chards, so I can't say which ones bothered me versus a couple that did not. I'm really not a chard guy at all, and only drink these because they come in the club shipments.[/i]