Friday, November 27, 2009

Newton 2006 Chardonnay (California)

I'm a fan of the Newton Claret (red blend) and have tried various incarnations of the Newton Chardonnay, over the years, and have found myself, in general, being a fan of that too (which is a surprise because of my usual nature is to dislike Chardonnay). I picked this one while down in the States in the hope that this was one of the year's that I liked the Chardaonnay; alas this was not one of those yeasr ... it definitely was not my favourite of the Newton Chards that I have tried, it had many of the characteristics people find offensive in Chardonnay these days (but used to love): to much oak treatment; I found it difficult to find fruit on either the nose or palate on this wine. The nose showed hints of apple, but they were obscured by vanilla, caramel and almond. The palate showed a little more promise in the fruit department, with hints of lemon and baked apple, but still there was much more hazelnut, caramel and spice then there was fruit flavour. The saving grace here was a nice seam of acidity which had me taking sip after sip looking for redeeming qualities, but finding very little.

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