The only way to describe this wine is "old school oakey chard". I like Dehlinger wines and purchase them as one of two west coast wineries in my cellar. Their PNs are spicey, big fruit, but with age calm down and offer an excellent match to grilled meat. Each year I buy one bottle of the chardonnay as my contribution to the US white wine industry. I thought oak was declining somewhat in chards but not at Dehlinger. The spices were there, no overwhelming buttery notes but way too much oak. My wife refused to drink it and I had to go down and open an '02 Dom Closel La Jalousie which was great. My mother, who was visiting, and 81, even said the second wine was much better. Let's see, $18 for a Loire CB that everyone liked or $29 for an oaky chard that nobody liked; guess I will reduce my CA white wine purchases by 100%.
Walt
PS: above rant excludes ESJ whites