Turkey and CalChard - Don't go away!

Everybody (whoever SHE is!) tells me that turkey is hard to match with a good wine.

Hmph!

Tonight's menu was turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy and Hubbard squash, and of course cranberry sauce. Just your ordinary turkey dinner.

The wine I picked - yes, CalChard - had a deep gold color, a surprisingly thick consistency (looked and felt something like 5W oil), and a marvelously smooth texture. Not terribly aromatic, it built in the mouth to have a sweet-tart mix like a very ripe apple. Not citrus, no - apple or pear. Not tropical at all. And a buttery undertaste that is the clue that it was indeed aged in oak.

Enough apple-acid, and enough distinction in its taste to cut through all the different flavors of the meal and stand by itself.

The envelope please...


Joseph Swan, Sonoma Mountain, Wolfspierre Vineyard Chardonnay, 1995.
Cost me $12.50 when I bought it at the winery in October 2002.

Very sadly, it's my last bottle.

Eleven years on that puppy -- who'd of thunk it?

I didn't expect much when I bought it - Rod Berglund had sort of "lost" a pallet and was selling it inexpensively just to move it out. He has a story about it (Rod has lots of good stories). I tasted it and liked it, and bought several bottles. This bottle is clearly old, but clearly good, too. I hope it'll be better tonight. I'll let you all know!

[Jenise]

John--turkey is EASY to match with wine. Everything goes well with it. What you may have heard is that the entirety of the typical Thanksgiving dinner--with cranberry sauce, marshmallow yams, jello salads and all the stuff that many people think isn't Thanksgiving dinner without--makes it difficult to pair the dry reds you might otherwise gravitate toward.

But great note on the Wolfespierre. The 95 was very structured, I'm not surprised that it held up.

>> turkey is EASY to match with wine. [...] What you may have heard is that the entirety of the typical Thanksgiving dinner <<

Well, yeah, of course! I mean, after all, I'm not going to have a wine to match each item on my plate! <vbg> Last night it was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, baked Hubbard squash, and of course cranberry sauce. Otherwise it isn't a turkey dinner!

Tonight, with (guess what -- leftover turkey dinner; green beans instead of squash), the wine had let its acidity come up a bit. That often happens, I find, on the second night. She's still an old lady, but there was something like star fruit in her. Actually a bit nicer. And the color had darkened somewhat, now it's more amber than gold. Still the thick, weighty feel.

Good stuff!

Eleven years on that puppy -- who'd of thunk it?

Interesting. I had an "aged" CalChard incident myself recently that makes me wonder. As with many things about wine with me, there is a story.

5-6 years ago I was seeing a woman who really liked California Chardonnay. So I collected 5-6 bottles to have around the house. I never was much of a fan because the wine always seems out of balance to me... too much oak, which seems to me to be used to disguise the fact that acidity and fruitiness of the wine don't seem to be in the correct proportions for my taste. Anyway, the relationship didn't last but the wine remained. Recently, I came across a small stash of CalChards that I had been inadvertently aging... 4-5 bottles of standard mid priced chardonnays of 98-99 vintage. When I noticed them, I thought... this stuff must be over the hill, it's made to be drunk within a year or two. But the frugal side of my nature said... It's a shame to throw wine away. So about a week ago, I opened one.... I think it was a La Crema.

Anyway, it was surprisingly good. I was amazed. The wood chip taste had subsided. Both the acidity and fruitiness were up. The wine was much better than I was expecting. In short, balance had been achieved on the tightrope of my tastebuds. While it is still not my favorite white, I could enjoy this stuff.

So my mission, is to try the rest of my aged CalChards. Was this an aberation? Who knows? It's a mystery.

Glenn

I've had a few bottles of CalChard at 5+ years. IMO, they're generally better older than younger. And I drink most of my whites within a couple of years of release.

I'm sure it's possible to find bottles that no amount of antiquity would salvage!