Saturday, August 24, 2013

Butternut 2011 Chardonnay and Catena 2007 Malbec (California / Argentina)

Truthfully there were three bottles of Chardonnay and a Malbec opened this evening; alas one of the bottles was atrocious, but thankfully the others were delicious.  One of the Chardonnays has previously been reviewed on my website, thus leaving me with only two wines to report about.  We invited our Chardonnay loving friend over for a little pulled chicken, Chardonnay and a chat about life, the universe and everything - after all it was a summer Saturday one dies for, not to hot, not too cold, and not a cloud in the sky.  We started our mid-afternoon get together with a bottle of Butternut 2001 Chardonnay, a bottle I picked up on my last foray into the States with her specifically in mind, I was told the grapes were "most likely" Dijon clone - but after reading the website I learned that was not the case, my buddy Dave can't be right all the time.  But what he wasn't lying about was that the wine lived up to its name:  butter and nuts were all over this thing along with caramelized banana, grilled pineapple, maple, and double double caramel Kernels popcorn (if you have never had it its a must try) on the nose ... the thrill of this wine was really the sniffer, on the palate it doled out the same kinda stuff, but the nose is where it was its most interesting - hazelnut, pineapple and butter rounded out the mouth.

After two more openings we served dinner, and with it a bottle of Catena 2007 Malbec ... aged to perfection, if I do say so myself: cassis and raspberry with good acidity to cut through the rich fruit, there was also some cranberry and sour cherry that appeared near the finish along with a touch of white pepper.  This wine delivered the goods and was a lovely match to the chicken.


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