Featured Wines - December 2002

Au naturalunadorned Chardonnaythe real thing, constitutes some of the tasting panel's descriptions of the 2001 Chapel Hill Unwooded Chardonnay. Although there is hardly another New World producer of Chardonnay that doesn't use copious quantities of oak to augment or adulterate the natural flavor of Chardonnay, unwooded Chardonnays are now in vogue in Australia. Created in 1991 by Pam Dunsford as a designer white for the winery's corporate owners,...

The 2001 River Heights Merlot has been dubbed the great wine with the non-descript label by the tasting panel. Perhaps, we have been a little easy on the label. We have never believed that one could or should drink a label or a price tag, but if there were ever a case for the preceding adage it is the River Height Merlot. Certainly, the wine's somewhat homely label doesn't prepare the taster for the wonderfully ripe, pure blackberry scents and fl...

A bright, energetic wine, not unlike the man who makes it, the 2001 Chateau Bonnet Entre-Deux-Mers exhibits a staggering array of sensual pleasure in its aromatic profile. Herb, gooseberry, lime and a vibrant minerality caress the nose. An artful blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle (an other indigenous Bordeaux grape that should not be confused with Muscat or Moscatel), the Chateau Bonnet possesses the finest attributes of each var...

One of the most consistently endowed wines from vintage to vintage, the 1999 Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Shiraz is a deep purple potion with the scent of blackberry, kirsch, and plum. Rich and long in the mouth, this Shiraz offers up copious quantities of blackberry, cassis, and spice, along with soft, ripe tannins. Emanating from a twenty-month stay in French and American oak barrels, a cachet of vanilla spice permeates the wine's long, rich, immen...