2004 Matanzas Creek Chardonnay Sonoma Valley

($30) Lemon drop, mint, flowers and hay on the nose. Lively apple and pineapple fruit framed by firm acidity. The strategy here is to make fruit-forward wines unsullied by oakiness. In fact, only about 60% of the wine went through malolactic fermentation, and it spent just six months in one-third new French oak. (A second bottle of the same chardonnay seemed distinctly tart and hard-edged.)

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: May/June 2006