Cinnabar Vineyard and Winery

There’s something about Central Coast Chardonnay, when it is picked ripe and treated well, that is eminently appealing. This wine has wonderful aromas of apples and baked pears, with a hint of citrus. It’s a blend of Chardonnay from Monterey vineyards, including the well-known Sleepy Hollow Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA. The fruit just oozes onto your palate with a delightful richness and a pleasant hint of sweet oak. The peachy-nectarine finish is pointedly rich and without quick retreat.

This is a wine that welcomes food, especially things that are complex and slightly acidic, like an Asian chicken salad with ginger-sesame dressing, or turkey filets grilled with wasabe mustard, and served over mustard greens or watercress. Or perhaps pulled pork tenderloin sandwiches. And given the stamina of this wine, you can do all three over the course of several evenings, as long as you keep it properly sealed and you don’t serve it too chilled.

This Chardonnay is not an overly-oaked sister that ran from its naked (unoaked) twin, which is all the rage now: instead, it finds a nice balance between fruit and wood without ever announcing the split between the two. For a sub $20 bottle of wine, especially given this caliber of fruit, I find this an amazing value.

(Alc: 14.1%, Retail: $18.50)

Reviewed February 2, 2007 by Laura Ness.