Posted by Sasha Grigorieva in beverages, wine on February 24, 2007 at 10:55 am
One of the greatest Burgundian wine-makers Madame Lalou Bize-Leroy admonishes us not to look for any external aromas and flavours when describing a wine: "Pah, ça sent de raisin, c’est tout!" Most of the time I can't agree with this (we need these 'exotic fruit' etc. similes because sometimes they help us to formulate our wine ideas, and besides how many of us had the chance to smell a ripe Chardonnay or Pinot Noir fresh from the vine?), but in case of Inniskillin Niagara Peninsula Chardonnay ($15.15/750 mL, LCBO 317768), I do agree whole-heartedly.
This Black Label Inniskillin production is a pronounced varietal wine that smells and tastes - surprise! - uniquely of Chardonnay with a particular "warm" finish that I find is characteristic of many Chardonnays world-wide. No luxuriant green apples, figs or buttery touches at all (as promised by wine-makers), but a recognizable Chardonnay bouquet, although rather slim and toned-down.
I can't profess any love for heavy oaky Chardonnays but this Inniskillin is almost too reserved and over-tart for me – they probably rather overdid it with hygienic stainless steel and were a bit too hasty to pick their grapes before they had time to ripen fully! It may be also that as it is rather lacking in body it has already lost most of its fruitiness on its third year of bottle-life - such varietal wines, especially white, are often supposed to be drunk in the first couple of years. All in all this Chardonnay is rather severe, although not without merit (including its relatively moderate price).
What could one combine it with apart from serving it as an aperitif (one could even add a spoonful of crème de cassis and make a good kir)? The well-known policy of providing Chardonnay for dishes with rich creamy sauces will hardly be an option here, Inniskillin’s acidity is too pronounced (in French it is politely called "une belle acidité"). Cheeses and cold cuts may work better. And by the way, if you've never yet tried matching fatty charcuterie with white wine high in acidity, do it, the result can be stunning!
Well, à la prochaine – next week we’ll discuss the Old World Gewuerztraminer 2004 by Trimbach, an Alsace classic.
