Wine of the week: A to Z Chardonnay 2011
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
From the scores are stupid department: Someone on CellarTracker, the blog ?s unofficial wine inventory web app, gave the A to Z chardonnay an 85. If this wine is only an 85, I ?m going to start writing rave reviews of over-oaked, too alcoholic California chardonnay.
To be fair, I can can understand why someone would not treat Oregon's A to Z ($10, purchased, 13.5%) with the respect it deserves. It doesn ?t have any oak, and if you expect chardonnay to taste like a vanilla milkshake, then this wine will confuse you and you ?ll score it lower. Which is just one of the many reasons why scores are stupid, since they don ?t account for individual likes and dislikes. In wine, one size does not fit all.
What the A to Z does have: Crisp, juicy green apple fruit, classic for this style of chardonnay; a little richness at the back, which makes up for the lack of oak; and an intensity that is quite refreshing. Serve this chilled on its own, or with any white wine dish that isn ?t too rich, and especially grilled seafood. Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2014 $10 Hall of Fame ? unless, of course, you like a lot of oak with your chardonnay.
This seems like kind of an over-reaction, given that these are consumer tasting notes and the purpose of them is to reflect personal evaluations. I see three tasting notes for this wine: 84, 87 and 88, which is good to very good by the CellarTracker scale. Not one of them criticized it for having too little oak. The 84 used a neutral descriptor of “light oak,” but there was no value judgment attached.