| 2008-01-30 13:06 |
WA: One of the finest Australian Chardonnays I have ever tasted is Giaconda’s 2004 Chardonnay Estate Vineyard. Aged 18 months in French oak (50% new, 100% Sirugue barrels), it tastes like a grand cru from Puligny-Montrachet. Steely lemon oil, popcorn, buttered hazelnut, and subtle smoke scents emerge from the glass of this intense, full-bodied Chardonnay that is bursting with character and soul. This amazing effort must be tasted to be believed. Importer: Negociants USA, Napa, CA; tel. (707) 259-0993 |
| 2008-01-30 13:06 |
IWC: By Josh Raynolds
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Jul/Aug 06
($100) Incredibly complex bouquet offers grand cru Burgundy notes of stone fruits, melon, honey, iodine, licorice, minerals, smoked meat and jasmine; this could pass for a ripe Corton-Charlemagne. Then rich, broad and almost painfully concentrated, showing a range of orchard and citrus fruit flavors, superb minerality and amazing depth. The finish is a seemingly endless display of power, concentration and breadth of flavor. This will be hard to find (there are just 180 bottles for the U.S.!) and it's far from cheap, but you'd pay two or three times as much for comparable character from Burgundy. 95 points |