Variety: Chardonnay
Region: Central Virginia
Cost: $20
Tasting Notes: Bright and well balanced. In the glass the wine presents light to medium amber. The nose is filled with baked apple, grapefruit, and lemon lime. The sharp green apple attack leads to a resplendent midpalate that has elements of citrus, white grapefruit, apricot, and just a hint of Orange Julius. The finish is clean with hints of red grapefruit, smoke, and cantaloupe. Pair with pan seared whitefish or roasted vegetables.
My Review: October is Virginia Wine Month, and while I no longer reside in the state, I’m a big supporter of the wine produced there, which is part of why I maintain a Virginia Wine Club membership that gets me monthly shipments, which is how I came to have a bottle of the 2014 Well Hung Vineyards Everyday Chardonnay.
In the glass the wine was a light golden color, and on the nose I picked up lemon and grapefruit, with apple showing the more the wine warmed up. In the mouth I picked up notes of citrus and apricot at first sip, with apple and grapefruit showing as the wine warmed.
My wife and I sipped on this Saturday as Hurricane Matthew blew over us here in Raleigh (all safe and dry here), and while it was nice enough to sip on…I wasn’t in love with it. When it comes to Chardonnay we typically drink Stainless Steel in the house because my wife doesn’t like Oaked Chardonnay. While I do enjoy it, and I acknowledge the problems of over oaking, the Everyday Chardonnay fell somewhere between Stainless and Oaked for me.
It wasn’t crisp enough for me to put it into the Stainless category, but neither did it have enough body and character to push it towards the Oaked side. Perhaps if I’d paired it with food some of this grey area could have been sorted out.
While I won’t call opening this bottle a waste, I’m also glad I didn’t save it for a special occasion, and instead just decided to drink it on a grey, rainy day.
