The Heritage Club - January 2021
January features wines from Lake County, California. Lake County is a tad inland, so the grapes produce rich and fruit-forward wines. Both of these wines offer tremendous value for their overall taste and feature a California classic, Chardonnay, as well as a crowd-pleasing red blend.
Playtime Blonde Chardonnay 2018
Producer: Shanon Ridge
Region: Lake County, North Coast, California
Grape Varietal: Chardonnay
Viticulture: This is a blend from multiple vineyards in Lake County, a warm inland area just north of Napa Valley.
Serving Suggestions: Serve cold, between 45-55 degrees. Pair with crab cakes or a mushroom-based pasta dish.
Age: 5-10 years in cellar conditions would be fine, but this wine is perfectly enjoyable right now.
Nose: Very tropical with fresh citrus and pear all tied together by the classic vanilla and oak from the barrel aging process.
Tasting Notes: Citrus, pear, and apricots featuring a pleasantly delicate texture for the palate.
WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT THIS WINE
Chardonnay is the most famous white wine grape in the world. Naturally, when you begin to learn about and drink wine you are drawn to classic varietals from well-known regions. California Chardonnay is certainly one of those famous wines. These wines have become fairly divisive in the wine world and have produced Chardonnay lovers and ABC (anything but Chardonnay) drinkers. Of course, the truth is in between those two feelings. There are many excellent, exciting, and wonderful tasting Califonia Chardonnay wines (like this one), while the market also plays a role in many lower quality wines to enter stores on region and popular wine varietal alone.
I had not had a traditional California Chard in a while and this wine was a welcome reminder of what Lake County can do with this grape. The warm inland climate brings out bold tropical flavors and an intense nose that takes you from a cold dreary winter to a beautiful June afternoon on the back porch. Great precision goes into making wine this intensely flavorful while also maintaining the delicate texture that Chardonnay drinkers yearn for.
Playtime Red Wine 2018
Producer: Shannon Ridge
Region: Lake County, California
Grape Varietal: 21% Petite Verdot, 19% Grenache, 16% Mouvédre, 12%Syrah, 12% Cabernet Franc, 10% Tempranillo, 6% Barbera, 3% Cinsault, 1% Petite Sirah
Viticulture: This is a blend from multiple vineyards in Lake County, a warm inland area just north of Napa Valley.
Serving Suggestions: Serve room temperature with beef but would be particularly good with lamb.
Age: With this many different varieties it's tough for me to know how it will age, but this wine is plenty good right now. A few years certainly would not hurt it.
Nose: Lush red fruits and a slight note of licorice.
Tasting Notes: Fresh raspberry and dried cranberry around rounded out by a nice amount of clove and cinnamon.
WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT THIS WINE
This wine is interesting because all of these varieties featured heavily in this wine are varietals I love. Many blends are pretty straightforward and you can see which grape is doing what and why it was chosen to be featured in the wine. With this blend, aside from Syrah, it's a bit tough to pick out which is doing what and why. However, the wine does not suffer in the slightest. This wine is well balanced and a great red blend for the value.