Sol de Mayo Chardonnay 2006

As promised I'm starting my series of news and reviews on white's for the Summer. As I mentioned in a previous post, white wine always seems to leave me hollow, like there's something missing. I enjoy the taste of white's, but they don't have the personality, complexity and depth of a solid red.

Sol de Mayo was a bottle that came across my path in a very unusual way. When asked during Christmas time what I wanted, I thought why not a wine of the month club? I got my wish, fulfilled by my brother. However a week later another shipment came, addressed to me but with a message inside to someone else. After calling Customer Service and matching up the order numbers, they established there was a mix-up at the warehouse. The good thing was, they didn't want the wine back!

Most of the wines I tasted from the set were easy to drink, very approachable but a little pedestrian for my taste, so I was surprised that this one was different. I'm not a huge fan of the overwhelming butter taste from California Chard so I was curious to see what they were doing with this varietal in Argentina.

First of all the vintage was a 2006...too young you say? What most people don't know is 95% of the wine out there is made to drink young, particularly white wine. Think about that the next time you're deciding between two bottles.

After opening I was greeted with a nose of tropical fruit. The wine was very creamy on the palate and had hints of fresh mango. This wine was very easy to drink. Notice that I use the descriptor "creamy", why is that? Malolactic fermentation. It's a process in wine where tart malic acid is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. You've probably heard of the sugar lactose, which is found in milk. Lactic acid=creamy feel, just like milk. The conversion process happens usually in oaked wine's upon introduction of a certain type of bacteria. If they taught this in Chemistry class, perhaps I would have been more attentive!

While I enjoyed drinking this wine, I personally wouldn't want to spend more than $7-$8 for it. The website of the wine club lists it for $15 which very few white's are worth, in my opinion. If you happen across Sol de Mayo in a store, at a reasonable price, pick it up and let me know what you think?

Affordable Wine of the Week, Sorry, it's Red!

An excellent wine value for you today. I had the opportunity to try this wine at a local restaurant called Kitchen 223, and I've been looking for it ever since! I was able to locate both the 2004 & 2005 at the local wine store, relatively inexpensive for the quality too, only $13.00 a bottle! The 2004 scored a 90 and the 2005 a 92, although I thought the 2004 was a little more complex on the palate. Tasting notes from the Wine Advocate:

"The 2005 Shiraz Jester exhibits an opaque purple color along with sweet aromas of blackberries, charcoal, white chocolate, and espresso roast. Rich, full-bodied, heady, and long, it explodes on the back of the palate (always a good sign). Drink it over the next 5-7 years"

Jester will hold up to a nice bloody piece of meat & stinky cheeses. While this is not summer wine per se, I couldn't help but share this tremendous value with you. Cheers!