1/18/08 New Favorite

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and as many of you know my new favorite wine is usually the wine that is in my glass at the time. I mean why would I want to drink wine that I am not thoroughly enjoying? Recently I found out why it is nice to save a bottle from each year I purchase a wine. But to make it even more interesting  I saved a vertical of a white wine and I want to share. During the holidays I had enough people around to open up several bottles of wine at one time. During such an opportunity I opened up a vertical of Chardonnay. A vertical is a collection of wines from consecutive years, or vintages. These wines were made by Forgeron Cellars from Walla Walla Washington. I am a fan of the wines obviously as I had collected them for a few years. But what a treat to open up three consecutive vintages at the same time and taste them side by side. First of all, they were all delicious. But each one had similar and yet different characteristics. The older of the three was silky smooth and the flavors had incorporated so well that you could barely tell when one flavor faded and another began. Whereas in the more youthful vintage the flavors were still a bit more distinct, I could taste the fruit and recognize the oak influence more easily. The levels of acidity were just perfect and really made me wish I had prepared a meal specifically for these wines. So I recommend not hesitating to consciously collect a vertical of white wine and right now Forgeron Cellars Chardonnay is at the top of my list. And thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.