"At last a white wine that needs some air"

Mission Estate Reserve Chardonnay - I have, of late gotten into quite a comfortable place with modern Chardonnay regarding them all as really quite similar unoaked whites that could quite easily be mistaken for many other whites that we all know and don't loathe owing to not having a recent past obsession with heavy oaking.  So I have to say I opened up the Mission Estate Reserve Chardonnay expecting more of that same familiarity.  I, had not in fact, noticed that this was the Reserve wine which undergoes barrel fermentation and so I got a whopping surprise when hints of barrel (notice I am being careful not to say oak here!), jumped out of the glass and onto both my palate and into my aroma sensors. 

First impression straight out of the bottle ???????  It made me really sad this was the first Chardonnay I have had recently that was not an instant appeal.  So I tried it again and no magic had yet happened.  So I sat down and popped the glass on the table and instead enjoyed a little catch up TV leaving the glass alone for a good 20 minutes not to purposefully aerate it but in fact it was just not what I had in my head so my brain was just readjusting what it was hoping for with what it was getting.  Part way through an episode of my favourite show Gold Rush (sad I know but I just love it), the adverts were fast forwarding so I picked up the glass by habit had a quick sniff, a sip and a wine snobs gargle.  It took a moment to register but the first reaction now was just wow, what a wine.  The hints of toasty vanilla were still there but much more mellow and subdued, they had faded to the background and integrated into the wine as a whole.  That left the tropical fruits to come out and shine and boy did they, bags and bags of banana, mango, passion fruits and too many more flavours to name them all just raced around the mouth.  By this point the wine was not fridge temperature so no doubt this also helped the fruit flavours to develop.  After that glass I wanted to make sure so I poured another glass with the same result of the wine balancing out and integrating itself perfectly over the space of 10 or 20 minutes.

So there you have it, and it is a lesson I should really know by now.  If at first sip a wine does not seem right then give it a chance.  There have been many times, more commonly with a red I will admit, that first sample was really off-putting and it had been written off.  Stubbornness had then brought me back to the glass only to find a completely different wine.  Now I would not say that you need to go out and invest in a wine aerator or decanter specifically for white wine.  It is much less common and so the justification is not there, instead I wanted to suggest a few easier and cheaper options.  Firstly use your biggest glass, not a normal small white wine glass.  You do get some wider bowled wine glasses often called Chardonnay/Montrachet glasses, these are as the name suggests for more oaky styles of Chardonnay that require a little air.  Play with the wine, swirl it in your glass and take your time.  Have you ever had a mint tea in Morocco??  If so you will have seen them pouring the tea from the pot at full arm stretch into the cup, this works well with wines that need a little air but it does take a bit of patience and probably a cloth at the ready!  If none of these work or require too much restraint, then just pour yourself a glass for now and a glass for later straight away.  By the time you finish glass one then glass 2 will be ready and waiting at its’ best!

Russell Wallace

General Manager