Savannah-Chanelle is one of the top Santa Cruz Mountain wineries, and their elegantly robust red wines usually end up on our table on a regular basis.
I made a very happy discovery this past weekend as I ate plate after plate of local Dungeness crab (somebody’s gotta do it) as a judge for the SCMWA’s Wine & Crab Taste-off.
There were the S-C folks pouring an unoaked, non-malolcaticized Chardonnay. The grapes hailed from the celebrated Tondre’s Grapefield in the Santa Lucia Highlands, so I was very intrigued. I fell for it immediately. No huge overinflated toast and butterscotch. No over-the-top oak koolaid flavors. Just crisp acidity and sparkling notes of stone fruit and minerals.
The 2009 Savannah-Chanelle Chardonnay is a very very appealing wine, one that actually partners food brilliantly. It’s enough to make a grown woman put down her Sauvignon Blanc! (Well, almost.) It retails for a budget-friendly $24 too.
Definitely one to try.
