Ledgewood Creek Winery & Vineyards

Does the phrase “bargain Chardonnay” make you want to run? Okay, me too. So let’s view this wine through the lens of “well-behaved wine.” I often make this note about wines I like, but rarely put it into reviews because it’s hard to explain. Mainly it means the wine does things beyond taste good: make my mood mellower, make my food taste better, and make both my palate and my wallet sigh with satisfaction. The price point can vary, but good behavior gets a gold star every time. Here’s a $14 Chardonnay from Ledgewood Creek that got a star – and it’s grown a hop, skip and a jump from Napa.

The aromas are persuasive right off: a rich mélange of apples, pears and honey. The wine goes into your mouth with deft smoothness, with immediate hints of butterscotch, vanilla and grapefruit from French and American oak barrel aging. The wine is structured so that these oak influences start on the flanks of the core fruit flavors and then spread into the finish, where the 'scotch and grapefruit meld into the pears and apples and the aftertaste gets layered vertically. It’s all a very nice ride and you also can use this wine’s appellation to stump your friends no end. (Pronounce it “soo-soon.”) So let’s give it two gold stars and a place in the fridge this fall.

Reviewed September 12, 2006 by Thom Elkjer.