2007 California Chardonnay
The newly released vintage brings high quality—and plenty of well-priced wines
The 2007 vintage of California Chardonnay offers a great range of quality across the board. The year is anchored by especially strong showings from Sonoma County, Carneros and Napa Valley, but a diversity of appellations throughout the state contribute to the overall richness of the vintage.
In a vintage as ripe as 2007, the mix of flavors can be fascinating. And, as usual in exceptional vintages, there are also scores of values to be mined, many of them comparing favorably with the top wines yet selling for one-half or one-third the price.
Based on tastings of nearly 400 Chardonnays—about half of them 2007s—since our last report ("A Mixed 2006 for California Chardonnay," July 31, 2008), I consider 2007 a grand slam for Carneros, Napa and Sonoma, with each appellation receiving a classic rating of 96 points on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale. Santa Barbara County has plenty of good wines too, but the region did not perform up to the level of the northern counties; I rate it 89 points for the vintage. (An alphabetical list of all wines tasted for this report is available.)
My favorite 2007s, all rated at 95 points, are the Lewis Russian River Valley ($48), the Londer Anderson Valley Corby Vineyards ($30), the Peter Michael Sonoma County Ma Belle-Fille ($85) and the Tor Sonoma Valley Durell Vineyard Wente Clone ($60). These are sensational expressions of the grape, uncommonly complex and concentrated.
Yet you can also find outstanding bottlings for $20 or less. Mount Eden's Edna Valley Wolff Vineyard 2007 (91, $20), Au Bon Climat's Santa Barbara County 2007 (91, $20) and Beaulieu Vineyard's Napa Valley Carneros 2007 (90, $17) more than hold their own in any Chardonnay tasting. The current crop represents the best ratio of quality to value in recent memory, which plays perfectly into the hands of consumers seeking excellent wines at affordable prices.
This should be one of the easiest years to buy Chardonnay. I expect that many wines will be discounted and that prices will remain soft. About the only reason prices wouldn't remain static in the coming months is that a smaller crop in 2007 was followed by an even shorter crop in 2008; quality should be outstanding, but there will be far less wine available.
The wave of 2006s reviewed for this report add support to my assessment last year that despite the mixed quality of the vintage overall, many great wines were made. From Sonoma, the Kistler Sonoma Mountain McCrea Vineyard ($75), the Ramey Russian River Valley Ritchie Vineyard ($75) and the Three Sticks Sonoma Valley Durell Vineyard ($45) all earned 95 points, as did newcomer Kazmer & Blaise with its Carneros Boonfly's Hill ($50) bottling.
Rodney Strong and Hanzell also made excellent wines in 2006.
And don't think you're mistaken if you run across a wine with a 2004 or 2005 vintage date. There were some stunning late-release 2005s in my tastings this year, led by the Shibumi Knoll Russian River Valley Buena Tierra Vineyard (97, $45), along with the three Marcassin Sonoma Coast bottlings from 2004: the Zio Tony Ranch (96, $75), the Marcassin Vineyard (94, $125) and the Three Sisters Vineyard (94, $75).
Stylistically, the Burgundian model of single-vineyard expressions, barrel and malolactic fermentations, and lees stirring continues to be the most popular. But I'm also seeing a return to what was formerly the predominant California style: non-malolactic, barrel-aged wines that seek to capture the pureness of the fruit. And irrespective of winemaking style, there are more small-case-production bottlings from vineyards singled out for their distinctive qualities.
There are also versions that deliver crisp acidity and flinty flavors built around citrus, green apple and other tart notes.
More wineries these days are eschewing oak and malolactic fermentations and instead using stainless-steel tanks to produce what is sometimes called naked Chardonnay. And many wineries that had made bolder, buttery styles in the past seemed intent on crafting somewhat trimmer, sleeker versions in 2007.
What's also often overlooked is how well California Chardonnay ages. While the wines are typically great to drink on release, the best age very well for six to 10 years and sometimes longer. Along the way, these wines undergo changes in personality, easing from the fresher primary fruit flavors of youth to greater complexity, depth and nuance. If you've never tried an aged Chardonnay, treat yourself to the experience.
With the 2007 vintage, a dry winter, adequate rain, no damaging spring frosts and a steady growing season led to uniform ripeness at harvest. The resulting wines are intense and fleshy, with a broad spectrum of flavors, plenty of depth and tremendous concentration. The vintage saw none of the headaches of 2006—a cool, damp year during which many growers battled botrytis and bunch rot that left some vineyards unpicked.
"The 2007 growing season was about as close to perfect as we can reasonably hope for—no hard spring frosts, no severe heat waves during the summer [and] no early fall rains," recalls Kevin Holt, winemaker for MacRostie winery in Carneros. That even ripening let producers pick when they wanted to, allowing the grapes to reach ideal physiological ripeness and develop desired flavors without getting overripe or alcoholic. "Getting the alcohol levels right is perhaps more important with Chardonnay than any other variety," Holt says. "A bit too little [alcohol] and the wine will lack body, a little too much and the wines quickly become noticeably hot."
Napa enjoyed a similarly mild climatic season, and winemakers there are just as excited about quality. "It is possibile that 2007 will be one of the best vintages for Chardonnay in recent memory," says James Hall, winemaker for Patz & Hall, which makes Chardonnay from Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma. "Overall, [the wines] display wonderfully layered and rich textures, with very long and concentrated flavors. The acid levels keep the wines fresh and youthful. I think this vintage should age beautifully."
"We were struck by just how small both the berries and cluster sizes were," says Lily Berlin of El Molino in Napa Valley, which enjoyed one of its best vintages in a decade. "The skins were thicker than usual, and there was more pulp in the berry, resulting in a high skin-to-juice ratio that translates to greater concentration and intensity. We love how this vintage's acid buffers the really ripe tropical flavors and the viscosity, and how it's able to express mineral notes as well."
There are many ripe, fleshy Chardonnays in this report, wines that capture the grape's amazing range of flavors—from tarter citrus, green apple and pear flavors to richer fig, honeydew melon and apricot. Some of the wines show all of those flavors, while a number of them rely on toasty oak barrels to impart a touch of smokiness or hazelnut and nutmeg scents that add welcome complexity.
Napa-based senior editor James Laube is Wine Spectator's lead taster on the wines of California.
