To celebrate spring's tentative arrival in Western Colorado, we thawed a gorgeous piece of Alaskan salmon (courtesy of our neighbor's Alaskan fishing trip), marinated it in olive oil, white wine and herbs and grilled it on a wood plank. On the rare occasions that I can persuade my family to eat fish, it's time to dig around in the cellar for a nice white wine.A couple of weeks ago a friend brought us a bottle of Garrett Estate Cellars 2008 Chardonnay. Garrett Cellars is a new winery in Olathe, Co. We haven't had the chance to visit them yet, but I look forward to tasting more of their wines. According to their website, they have 35 acres of grapes and are just now starting to release some of their 2008 and 2009 vintages.
Anyone that knows me or visits our tasting room is probably aware of my aversion to most Chardonnays, especially when heavily oaked. It's one of those prejudices that I'm working hard to overcome, particularly in light of the fact that our first wine release was a 2008 Colorado Chardonnay. I rejoice that most wine makers in Colorado that are producing Chardonnay are not using a lot of oak, so I'm overcoming my dislike a bottle at a time.
Very pale in color, the Garrett 2008 Chardonnay starts off with a strong whiff of green apple. On the palate, green apple predominates, with a trace of gooseberry and pineapple. The finish lingers with a trace of sweetness. The winemaker in me wonders if this wine went through malolactic fermentation and how it would taste if exposed to a little oak at some point in fermentation. The malolactic process might have mellowed out the strong green apple flavor and let some of the more delicate tropical fruit flavors shine through. Green apple aside, this is a very pleasant wine and great effort from a new winery. It made a nice change from drinking our Chard all the time. Thanks to John and Maryann for bringing us this bottle.I would rate this wine 3 1/2 stars, but keep in mind my Chardonnay prejudice and don't let it stop you from trying it!
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