I was very excited to make it to wine club last Thursday. Three WHOLE hours out of the house sans kids. Amazing. The theme for the evening was Chardonnay from around the world. We seem to be a group that likes to guess things about what we’re tasting and see who gets the most right. Sometimes that means we do a blind tasting, others we try to guess where the wine is from or how much it cost. This time we had the descriptions of all six chardonnays we tried, but we didn’t know which wine was which. I’ll be up front and admit that I got every last one wrong. Oops! But, I have some excuses.

So here’s what we tried (in no particular order):

2005 Talley Vineyards Chardonnay Oliver’s Vineyard (Edna Valley)
2007 Bodega Catena Zapata Chardonnay (Argentina)
2008 William Fevre ‘Champs Royaux Chablis’ (France)
2007 Trevor Jones Virgin Chardonnay (Australia)
2007 Carmody McKnight Free Run Chardonnay (Paso Robles)
2005 Iron Horse Vineyards (Sonoma)

And here’s what I thought of each one (adapted from my vague notes taken whilst conversing with my wine club friends- my aroma wheel at home):

#1: I thought this wine was light, citrusy (like fresh-squeezed limes) with a bit of green apples. Very acidic and tart. This was my favorite one of the evening. I guessed this was the Bodega Catena and it was not.

#2: I thought this wine smelled very oaky, however it tasted less oaky. It was pretty fruity and the oak was nicely balanced against the fruit. I liked it. I guessed this wine to be the William Fevre Chablis. Of course, it was not.

#3: This wine smelled like a glass full of buttered popcorn. (Which is caused by diacetyl, a natural byproduct of fermentation). While there was some fruit flavor underneath, I found the wine way too oaky for my taste. I’m not one for oaked white wines, sometimes I just feel like I’m drinking a wood plank. I guessed this wine to be the Iron Horse. Wrong!

#4: This wine was acidic and smelled of green apples. It was refreshing to drink and had just a touch of oak. It was my second favorite of the evening. I thought it might be the Carmody McKnight. Nope!

#5: At this point in the night, my nose started to fail me, because my notes for the nose are “??”. I also noted that it tasted pretty oaky. Very descriptive, I know. I thought it was the Trevor Jones. Of course, I was wrong.

#6: This wine was an interesting experience for us. Immediately upon pouring it one thing was very obvious, it was oxidized. The color was like apple juice. As you might imagine, it smelled all kinds of horrible. We all tasted it to see what an oxidized wine tastes like. Let’s just say most of us needed a chaser (I chose bread smothered with goat cheese). I guessed Talley Vineyards for this one.

So, part of what made it so difficult to place the wines (and I did change my mind several times), was having one of them be oxidized since it clearly didn’t taste like the description. I also failed to notice that wine #2 was in a bottle that was a screw cap. Had I paid attention I almost certainly would’ve pegged it as the Australian wine and certainly wouldn’t have chosen France. I mean, c’mon, a French wine with a screw cap?!

So, here’s what the wines actually were:

#1: William Fevre Chablis
#2: Trevor Jones Virgin Chardonnay
#3: Talley Vineyards Chardonnay
#4: Iron Horse
#5: Carmody McKnight Free Run Chardonnay
#6: Bodega Catena Zapata Chardonnay

Better luck next time!