There's nothing like a dry, brittle cork that falls apart directly into the bottle to start an afternoon's drinking off right, is there? Thankfully, once the cork was extracted, what was left was a brilliant, overly clean-looking wine with pale tinges of green in the glass. On the nose, it comes across as decadent, rich, and full, promising ripe pear, Brazil nuts, and lots and lots of butter (hey, this is California, after all). However, what you taste isn't what you smell, which is why this wine strikes me as a real winner given the price. It manages to come across as much more Chablis than Carneros at first, only relenting and delivering the toasty buttered goods on the finish, supported by nervy acidity that supports it all to great effect. Still, there's enough complexity from oak and what I suspect is only partial malo that delivers a drinking experience unexpected at this price. This is pretty damn good stuff.
Cork, oh cork. What's the uptake of Stelvin enclosures like in the Californian industry?
I have absolutely no idea what the latest closure statistics are in the industry, alas. I should at least check out a supermarket or Cost Plus and see if Hogue, RH Philips, et al are still using screwcaps.
The Chandon chardonnay I had earlier this week was screwcapped, but their Web site shows cork for the newer 2006 vintage. I don't know if that's typical, but I wouldn't be surprised if things have shifted back to cork. I fear that the US wine market tends to be even more about luxury and status than quality product than other countries, hence the perception that corks are somehow more elegant. This is doubly vexing as I grow older and find corks more difficult to extract!