WTN: 1997 Bedell Cellars Chardonnay Long Island New York.

1997 Bedell Cellars Chardonnay Long Island New York. Source and price not noted; around $20 if memory serves. [I remember thinking the price was outrageously high seven years ago.]

I've had this wine kicking around for about 7 years. I attended a tasting in 1999 of Cab Franc wines, one of which was from folks from Long Island, and for some reason the tasting inspired me to buy this bottle of wine. I thought it was outrageously priced, but figured all the rich folks out on the Forks were driving the price up. Embarassed me, this bottle did. I overpaid, it was from a crummy wine area, it was for God's sake Chardonnay. The bottle went from one wine cellar to another and three years ago I moved it into my "drink now" refrigerator. If nothing else I could give it to a OBC wine lover. :-)

I looked at that damn bottle time after time, and chose at least 300 wines before I decided that I had to bite the bottle, as it were. After all, there's a sink right next to that refrigerator.

Oh my gosh -- this wine was wonderful. I've had a hundreds of white Burgundies after attending seven of Daniel Johannes's Burgundy blow outs. This Chardonnay was at least as good as any of those wonderful wines. Just a hint of oak, lovely fruit, wonderful aroma and taste, perfectly balanced fruit and acidity, long, long complex finish. It was too good to drink with food -- I was batching it, and decided to drink my dinner. This was a wonderful bottle of wine. 5*.

Some technical stuff I found in my notes follow this note. I hope they relate to this vintage -- I've never ever bought or tasted a Bedell wine before I had this bottle and am not entirely sure where they came from.

Regards, Bob


Bedell Cellars
Main Road, Rte. 25
Cutchogue, NY 11935
1997 chardonnay


Phone: 631-734-7537
Fax: 631-734-5788
Website: http://www.bedellcellars.com

Cases Produced: 1422
First Vintage Bottled: 1993
Year Planted: 1982
Winemaker: John Levenberg
Grapes: 100% Chardonnay

Brix at Harvest: 20.2
pH: 3.31
Alcohol: 13%
TA: 6.26 g/l
Vinification: 40% Stainless Steel and 60% French Oak Fermented

The only LI Chard I had was Macari 2000 Chardonnay Reserve, Barrel Fermented, which I posted a note about in a TN about wine with lobster a few years ago. I liked the wine a lot, but it wasn't the best match with the lobster (Vouvray won).

http://www.wineloverspage.com/user_subm ... 78061.html

Some Long Island wines are pretty damn good. But because of its location, East End of Long Island they get a bad rap- similar to the Napa Valley, better known for its glitz, stars and money. From a viticultural stand point the location is no way “crummy”; in fact it is very favorable especially for Vitis vinifera grapes. The Long Island wine industry is still in its infancy. In the beginning the vine growers and wine producers did not pay to much attention to the “true identity” of the grapes they were planting and producing wine from. Basically they asked California and upstate NY nurseries for Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cab Franc, Chardonnay, Riesling, and Gewurztraminer grapes to grow on LI and were not concerned with the actual clones they were planting. It was not until the 1990’s that they began paying attention. They hired consultants and experts to identify the clones of grapes they had planted and experimented (and are continuing to experiment) with “new” clones to the region. In doing so, over the last few years they are discovering which clones are doing “best” and in what locations. Because of this the wines are and will continue to get better!

Salute