Carte Blanche Chardonnay

13’ Carte Blanche Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. I first opened a bottle of this a year ago. I knew they needed some time. Unlike the 2012 that was heavily oak influenced.
Brighter, notes emerge after the wine has opened up in the glass for 20/30 minutes. Notes of poached pear, honeysuckle, crushed rock, light acidity . Nice bottle. This is much more “terroir- driven”. 180° different then previous vintages. I’ll open a 14 soon to see if it’s a bit more promising 🤞

This wine has really changed quite a bit in the last two and a half months. This used to be quite a bit more tropical and acidic, but today's bottle opened showed more of an amber hue and nose of buttered popcorn and caramel. The palate seems to have more of an overripe red apple, and resembles more of an apple cider then wine. Finishes with a dried nut note. Not too sure what to think about this. All I know is that this one is nothing like the bottle I had in February. Good, but nowhere near great. If this was my first score for this wine, I would probably give it an 88.if you have any of these, I would either hold on to them for another six months in case this one is in a really funky spot, or drink them all now.

Tropical Chardonnay with great weight and density. Went well with Greek food. Nose of pineapple and honey and a touch of basil. Entry that is also very tropical and quite dense. Mouth coating. Didn't compete with the food like I thought it would, but instead really danced around the fare. Went best with the basil pesto hummus. Finished with more acidity than it started with. Aftertaste was kind of strange, almost like a tart peach. I truly think this wine needs to sit another couple of years before trying again, but it's still a very solid wine for the price point.