Wilfred Wong is the popular Cellar Master at BevMo! His palate is highly regarded; his opinions matter a great deal. Please enjoy.
Winery images have been borrowed from the respective wineries’ Web sites; for emphasis and their promotional use, only. Wilfred’s image comes from his BevMo! wine blog page.
If you’d like to review more wine picks from Wilfred Wong, just search wine-blog for “Wilfred” and all of his recommendations will be listed.
Meanwhile, enjoy his Three Top Wines for the Weekend and Beyond wine picks…
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From my notebook: Notes from an extreme taster
Three Top White Wines for the Weekend
Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viogner 2012, and 2013, and MacRostie Chardonnay 2012…
When I first started tasting wines in the 1970’s, one of my favorites was the Charles Krug Chenin Blanc. Now way defunct, that wine at its best was simply pretty as can be. Fresh and full of fruit, this was one of my first introductions to the world of fine wines. Over the years, even with the most diligent of searches, I could not locate a wine to replace that long lost love.
In the early 1990’s Pine Ridge Vineyards came to the rescue and created their Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend and it brought me back to my early days as a wine guy.
The 2012 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier shows charming flowers and tropical fruit. While it is crisp in the finish, I kind of sense a little bit of sugar. Yet mostly dry, this is a wine to serve everyone, because it simply tastes so good. Unfortunately the distribution channel has almost sold out of this vintage. So what do we do? BevMo! still has the 2012 in stock and some (not much) is still being shipped. BevMo! Retail is $14.99.
Fortunately the 2013 Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc + Viognier is just coming into the marketplace and will be shipped soon. It is really fresh and delicious and deftly continues to feed the marketplace. Just a little bit un-evolved, but nonetheless quite pleasing in all respects. It drinks plenty well now.
MacRostie Vineyards, a remarkable producer has been around for awhile and seems to be one of those producers that just keeps on making really good wines year after year. The 2012 MacRostie Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is quite rich and pure; excellent flavors of dried peach and apple are nicely melded with a hint of oak. Long and flavorful in the finish, this is already looking like one of the top Chardonnays of the vintage. BevMo! Retail: $25.99
Pine Ridge Vineyards and MacRostie Vineyards are not ancient wineries, but they have been around for awhile. Don’t you think it would nice to re-visit them?
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