Tasting Note:

Eyes: clear, med- lemon, legs
Nose: clean, med intensity, youthful, citrus, mineral, slight creamy/yoghurt/lees
Mouth: dry, med body, med+ acid, med alcohol, med- flavour intensity, short finish, citrus, slight creaminess, mineral, pear
All in all: Acceptable quality: the wine is mostly inoffensive and done in a fresh and clean style, but the wine has a relatively short length, disjointed acidity, and a palate that comes off as slightly dilute. Drink now; not suitable for ageing.
Identity guess: Inexpensive Pinot Gris from Italy; 2 years old.
Is really: Inexpensive Chardonnay from Australia; 2 years old.

[Tasted during WSET Diploma class – Section 1 – Week 6]

If there’s one thing worse than my guess-everything-is-from-Chile thing, it’s my confusion with Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. They can both have that crisp persona with some buttery lees-y malo going on, so that’s one of the laterals I’ll have to study more often. The confusion gets me most with the BC examples.

(Also stay tuned for guess-everything-is-2-years-old and shitty-at-length.)

This was a wine that had a vague and almost insipid nose with a touch of that creaminess I’ve seen in some BC Pinot Gris, but still retaining a light, fresh, yet disjointed acidity. Much of the acidity seemed quite low to me at first, from what I suspect was from a lack of natural tartaric acid and instead, a front-mouth slightly artificial malic acid that was added to combat flabbiness. I didn’t catch it as much as other people did, but there was a slight funk on the finish which was suspected to be due to partial berry rot.

It’s really nothing special, but it stunned me that this sort of pseudo-fresh wine was from Australia – I wonder if this is what some people think the formula for typical Australian Chardonnay is like. On the brighter side, it’s easy to equate “inexpensive” and “fruity”, so I guess it’s nicer to see some less fruity examples at this price range. Silver Linings Cellar.

Producer: Peter Lehmann
Designation: “Weighbridge”
Region: Australia
Sub-Region: South Australia
Variety: Chardonnay
ABV: 11.5%
Vintage: 2011
Tasted: May 15, 2013
Price: $13