1/4/2011
Tonight we opened a Chilean Chardonnay to use in cooking and to drink with our Gnocchetti Mussel dish (see food blog). We did not try the Chardonnay prior to using basically because once we opened it we knew we were not going to waste a whole bottle. Our second (reasonable) choice was Eroica Reisling which may have actually been better in the end. This Chardonnay is from Maycas del Limari Chile (Quechua). According to the bottle this is where the Incans lived. Limari is a valley in the northern part of Chile that receives breezes off the Pacific Ocean. Northern Chile tends to be dry and warm. This wine is very citrus and to me does not taste like a chardonnay (either oaked or not), until after the initial startling citrus bomb. This wine tastes like a Sauvignon Blanc. The color is almost clear, as you would suspect with a young wine. The nose is typical chardonnay buttery vanilla and fools you into thinking it will be a garden variety chardonnay. As soon as you taste it you get a citrus explosion with true chardonnay lagging on the palate. It has a long finish. It is not a bad wine and on its own is rather interesting. But with our Gnocchetti Mussels it was a poor pairing. I would buy it again this summer while eating raw oysters or steamed shrimp.
