WTN: 99 Martinelli Chard, 04 Saxum Broken Stones

Two pretty good wines to mark the passage of August:

1999 Martinelli Chardonnay, Martinelli Road RRV 8/31/2007 Brilliant medium golden to a clear edge with many fine bubbles. Rich creamy oak over crisp lemon chiffon fruit, notes of vanilla and butterscotch, fine mineral tones on the nose. Soft, broad, easy entry to an understated center of dried lemon fruit delicately set against soft, easy oak at the far edges, very light and finely stated yet with a creamy richness and just a bit of heat in reserve, well-balanced through the moderate consistent finish.

2004 Saxum Broken Stones, Paso Robles (75% Syrah, 22% Grenache, 3% Mouvedre) 8/31/2007 Deep purple-black to a bright violet edge. Creamy oak overtones to deep black fruit, with black plum, black cherry and blackcurrant elements all in evidence, lean mineral tones and a bit of horsehair follow on the nose. Rich, succulent entry to a rather spicy center of blackberry, plum and blackcurrant fruit, berry acidity beneath pales in comparison to the mass of fruit, black pepper and soft mineral tones follow, the balance is clearly stated and fine, on the heavy side of medium weight, consistent through the moderate finish.

Glad you enjoyed the Martinelli. I never really enjoyed their Chards. However, funny thing was the last couple of shipments before I dropped them ALL of the whites ended up flawed and I ended up dumping them all down the drain. This was after the 99 vintage I think it was 01 and 02. I dumped 7 in one day before I decided I could not open another that day. Never had the same problem with the reds.

Sorry to hear of your experience with the Martinellis. Mine has been quite the opposite. I've been buying and drinking their wines for the last eight years or so and have had few disappointments. Do you think you may have had problems with shipment conditions or storage which affected the chards?

As a post note, I will say that I think their pricing is quickly moving outside of their quality range--$120/btl for JA Hill Zin and $90 pb for Blue Slide PN on their last offering is well beyond the bounds of reason IMHO.

I have no idea what caused the problem but it was all whites across multiple shipments so not contained to a single wine or vintage. I never had the problem with the reds nor prior to that time with the whites. The storage on my end is not the problem as my passive cellar is fine for other whites many aged for years. I wanted to attribute it to shipping but then again there were reds in the same shipments w/o problem and prior years were fine and its not like they changed the time of year when they shipped. I probably would have contacted the winery if I had not already dropped the list by the time I started opening all these duds.

As for why I dropped, part of it was a change in my preferences but as you note the price increases got outrageous.

Interesting. Was there a particular flaw common to the chards or were there a variety of issues?

It has been a few years now and I don't have notes but I recall that all of them seemed to have the same chemical smell/taste. I don't really recall more than that now. I remember clearly that it was not what I would call corked from my experience. It also did not align with the wines having been cooked. Again this was all the whites - not just the chards. I left some of them open for hours to see if it disipated with time but it did not.