One Blue Mountain Leads to Another

What the hey. Last week's celebratory wine with Sacred Drop and W2 was a Blue Mountain bubbly; so, why not open a Blue Mountain still wine tonight? After all, doesn't the phrase go "one good wine leads to another?"

1505.  2009 Blue Mountain Chardonnay (Okanagan Valley)

Not that there was really any doubt beforehand, but our choice turned out to be particularly pleasing. Being a bit of a Riesling man myself, I don't tend to gravitate to Chardonnay when picking white wines - particularly when they're oaked - but this one definitely hit the spot.

Blue Mountain offers both an estate Chardonnay and a Reserve (what is now the "old" striped label). From what I can tell, the primary differences between the two (other than that the Reserve picks the best barrels from the fermenting wine) is that the "entry level" Chardy only sees ageing in older oak barrels, sees less time in those barrels and sees less battonage (or stirring of the wine while it ages on its lees or spent yeast cells). As this is the estate bottling, I expected a more subdued oak presence and it was, indeed, nicely integrated - blending subtly with the acidity and tree fruit that still showed through.

I may have to forego a few Rieslings and see what other Chardonnays we have stored away. There may be a few more gems like this one.