I'm guessing that, when I've polished off the 2001st wine in this Odyssey, I'll find that there are going to be more Red Rooster wines on The List than wines from any other winery. As such, I was glad to find that tonight's bottle hasn't already been added to The List. There's an '04, an '09 and a '10 Chardonnay but this 2011 vintage hasn't shown up yet.
For me, one of the hallmarks of Karen Gillis, Red Rooster's winemaker's, Chardonnay is that she doesn't overplay the oak card. While there's been some oak ageing evident, it stays in background leaving the fruit to shine - this is a good thing in my books.
That being said, however, this wasn't a favourite of mine when it comes to Karen's wines. I found it to be lacking in acidity and the fruit wasn't as noticeable as I remember from past vintages. It didn't strike me as being on the same par as the 2009 when that wine was named one of the Top 10 Chardonnays in the 2011 Chardonnay-du-Monde competition - out of over 900 entries that year.
Just goes to show you that the circumstances surrounding the terroir, the vintage, the winemaking and even the circumstance surrounding your tasting of a particular bottle play such a big role in how enjoyable an individual wine can be.
Despite this bottle's underwhelming cachet, I know there'll be plenty more Red Rooster bottles being poured in our household in the years to come. I'm going to be glad, though, that I won't have to be concerned about whether I've already polished off any certain vintage. I'm rather looking forward to that aspect of drinking whatever I fancy - regardless of its presence on The List.
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