WTN: Trivial Pursuit

[Jenise]

It was Trivia Night last night at The Vault Wine Bar. My team won two out of the evening's three rounds (Current Events, and these were not especially easy questions, which made engaging conversation) and drank the following:

2023 Kelley Fox Wines Chardonnay Lark Block Durant Vineyard Dundee Hills
Medium crystalline yellow. Nose is fantastic, fresh and slightly more floral than fruity at this moment in time with ladylike green apples, lemon, cheramoya, galia melon, and vanilla bean spice creating a seductively complex mid-palate and finish. This is a perfect American chardonnay: what few are but should aspire to be.

2023 Echolands Winery Syrah Walla Walla Valley
It's wine: check. It's syrah: check. It's drinkable: check. But beyond that it has no identity, no sense of place. It's just an innocuous red wine with a starchy finish, and I expected better based on the reputation of the winemaker and glowing remarks from a friend who has tasted many of the releases from this new winery from a well-healed investor/owner. Don't know where the $$$ went. So far I've only tasted two, and I'm still waiting to be impressed.

[Jenise]

Just had an email conversation with a local retailer about Echolands. His palate and mine are identical. His take: Echolands is going in the right direction and getting better. They hired Brian Rudin as the new winemaker. He was previously at the Duckhorn Washington project and Cadaretta before that. He is super smart and very talented. He alone will make this project work. Doug Frost the owner is a master of wine and Master Sommelier, so he has a serious palate. The whole concept is to make a style that is framed around cooler climate style, less alcohol, less oak….less is best. [They need]...more time to figure how to do that style without just picking early.... They have an amazing facility up by the Blue Mountains outside of Walla Walla and are not lacking financial assistance.

[David M. Bueker]

Sounds like they may not yet have the right vineyard site or vineyard management practices to achieve ripeness without elevated alcohol.

You don't mention oak in the Kelley Fox chard, a very common characteristic (and also often over-used in American chards). I take it that means that their use of 'neutral' oak (i.e. previously used oak) aging is working for them. I always thought it was a shame in the old days when too many US wineries used oak as a crutch that resulted in too many of them presenting like a vanilla milkshake - and then they did the same to many Australian wineries.

Do you think we are pretty much past that old error now - you get to taste far more American chards than I do. I have some of the 2021 (that you were kind enough to help with) that I should probably start getting into soon.

[David M. Bueker]

You don't mention oak in the Kelley Fox chard, a very common characteristic (and also often over-used in American chards). I take it that means that their use of 'neutral' oak (i.e. previously used oak) aging is working for them. I always thought it was a shame in the old days when too many US wineries used oak as a crutch that resulted in too many of them presenting like a vanilla milkshake - and then they did the same to many Australian wineries.

Do you think we are pretty much past that old error now - you get to taste far more American chards than I do. I have some of the 2021 (that you were kind enough to help with) that I should probably start getting into soon.

Not Jenise, but oak levels in many high end American Chardonnays have come way down. The Rombauer types are still around, but there’s a lot of moderate to very low oak Chardonnay out there now.

Big fan of Kelley Fox!

[Jenise]

David covered your question, Bill. My experience is that these days heavy oak is only popular at the cheap end and with producers for whom that's a signature quality (Rombauer, Bevan, etc). Even Kendall Jackson has eased up. Those are all California names, though: you rarely see overt oak in Oregon chardonnays.

[Jenise]

Oh, and a question. Is there such a thing as a dry Banyuls? I've only had the sweet style. There was a handsome 750 among the prizes available, and I had first choice but, suspicious, I chose something else.

[David M. Bueker]

Just to add on, it’s not always the amount of oak, but the toast.

As to Banyuls, I've only had fortified/sweet ones, and think that is what AOC requires.

Agree oak is lessening, and that Oregon has always been less oaky than some California. I've had Walter Scott and Domaine Drouhin wines with quite apparent oak, but not Rombauer/Kistler levels

Yes, besides age, toast and type of oak can make a difference (and abv of wine), plus of course barrel size.

Many years ago I was a home winemaker for awhile (if it didn't produce any outstanding wines, it did instill an appreciation of what winemakers do). The oak that was available was in the form of bags of chips of various sizes and was mostly American and the difference in the end product depending on where the chips came from and how they had been treated was interesting. No strikingly good wines were produced but the instilled appreciation of the art remains!

[Jenise]

You did that? Did you start with real grapes or did you do those kit things that were still popular when I moved up here 20+ years ago (at least among a certain strata of people, including a couple in my neighborhood).

[Jenise]

I was amused just now reading an offer from Charles Smith's K Vintners. About 7 years ago he decided to make a high end California-styled chardonnay with WA grapes (not much chard up here) called Sixto--tasted them early, hated them. They were priced at guess what, $60 a bottle! And now they can't sell them. The offer I received describes "lush and intense" flavors of deep and rich cardamom-dusted challah bread, banana and shades of ripe pear." Doesn't that sound disgusting?