by Jenise » Fri May 22, 2009 1:48 pm
A wine I took to California last weekend to share with some chardonnayhead friends was a 2001 Kistler Sonoma chardonnay recently picked up at auction. It was served as a lunch wine with roast halibut. And while I'm not in general a fan of Kistler (because, all other considerations aside, I've never thought them worth the price), I have to say with almost a decade under its belt this wine engendered much affection around the table. Showing its age in all the good ways with a panoply of butterscotch and cider flavors along with a touch of orange rind, dried apricot and bourbon. Probably at peak as the acidity is at this point fairly tame, it was nonetheless sufficient and the wine and food were well paired. That is, where usually the aim is to choose a food wine to go with food, this meal was more one of having a wine food to go with the wine: the mild fish was just the right low-key backdrop for the spectacle so few of us have often with California white wine.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov