The Desert Wine Guy - 2016 Black Stallion Estate Winery - Unfiltered Chardonnay

2016 Black Stallion Estate Winery - Unfiltered Chardonnay

   Today I am doing a review on one of the very first of a few wines which I brought back from my recent trip to the Napa Valley a few weeks ago. Today's review is of the 2016 Black Stallion Estate Winery - Unfiltered Chardonnay. I want to tell you wine lovers that Black Stallion (http://www.blackstallionwinery.com/) wines actually came to my attention a few years ago quite by accident when I had a bottle of their 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon at a restaurant and fell in love with it. I still actually have a bottle of that wine in my Wine Cellar and I actually did a review (https://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-desert-wine-guy-2011-black-stallion.html) on it as well. I also have a bottle of their 2012 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon in my Wine Cellar. Both of these bottles are resting there for just the right time to be opened. By the way, I have in the past tried one of their Chardonnays (the 2016 Heritage) but found that it was simply an over oaked, buttery mess to be quite honest. Here is a little heads up, this one is not. Let's go ahead now and talk for a second about the Black Stallion Estate Winery itself. The Black Stallion Estate Winery is one of the wineries which are owned by the Delicato Family (https://www.delicatofamilyvineyards.com/vineyards/).

The family owns a total of three vineyards and their total acreage of Vineyards combined covers around 6,000 Acres. Originally the Black Stallion Winery was "once home to the Silverado Horseman’s Center with ambling riding trails, stables, and the area’s only indoor arena that welcomed up to 3,000 visitors". Going there today, I will you that you will still find the remains of the Stables as well as a beautiful tasting room to experience their wines.

   So you already know that I purchased this wine at the actual winery and you also can rightfully assume that I obviously liked it, I guess none of this is a secret. The questions that remain however is just how much did I like it and what is my final rating of the wine?  Let's go ahead learn some basics about this wine now. First thing that I want you to know is that all of the grapes for this wine were grown in the Napa Valley AVA. The wine is available at the winery only and selles for $40 a bottle and comes in at 14.5% on the Alcohol scale. The wine label states that it is "unfiltered" and I thought that was kind of interesting although I will tell you that in my tasting I did not visually pick up any sediment nor did I note any grittiness of any kind on the Palate. I want you to know as well that this wine is 100% Chardonnay and from what I have read on the wines tech sheet, it sat in 95% new French Oak for 14 Months and experienced 100% Malolactic Fermentation.

   Let's move now onto the label of this wine. Oh, one last thing, I am moving this review to the top of my review list as I believe that you guys need to read it right away, after all this wine is a limited release and I do so want you to be able to enjoy it before it is sold out.
   Ya know I think that a white wine can pull off a label that a red wine simply cannot. The people who design the labels hopefully know this and hopefully as is here, they design those labels accordingly. Look for a minute at the Fonts on this wines label as well as the color of those Fonts which are a beautiful semi-vibrant Gold. My goodness guys, this label is indeed super impressive and as a consumer it certainly would be doing it's job which would be attempting to get my immediate attention on a store shelve, part of a labels job. The label wants desperately to tell me about what the bottle is holding inside.

Wine lovers, I love the way a Grayish Black is used as a background in contrast to that semi-vibrant Gold lettering I mentioned, nicely done. I love as well what the label actually tells you as it is so informative. I for one do want to know that the wine is a "limited release". I do want to know that the wine is "unfiltered". Looking now at the back label I do want to know about where the winery is located and about the historic Silverado Horseman’s Center. These are things that I believe the educated wine consumer does wish to be informed of. A little history behind a wine that someone is about to (hopefully) enjoy is nice.
   Let's get to this wines presentation of itself as it sits in my glass. In my glass this wine presented a wonderful golden color overall and appeared as if it was actually older then it was. The wine also presented itself as if it believed that it was truly destined to be being poured for the rich and famous. You absolutely need to look at the picture that I took of it, amazing. As I said earlier, I did not see any signs of the wine being "unfiltered" and so I am not really sure what the Winemaker meant by that term.

  
      Now, onto the nose of this wine we go. Apple Blossom and Asian Pear are presented right away and they both are so super smooth and yet certainly display with power on the nose as well. These notes are presenting themselves with more then just a touch of class as well. Beautiful perfumed fruit notes are flowing up and out of my glass. On the Nose as well is just a hint of Butter but there should be now worries as I do mean only a hint. There are wonderful notes of both Peach Blossoms as well as White Apricot which are pronounced here as well and offers up a perception at least of some depth, complexity and viscosity. Together these notes create the mere perception of sugar on the Palate which does not fully come to pass thankfully. You can almost just sense that this Chardonnay is sitting, waiting and holding back to explode on your Palate when the time is right. There is also a deep Honey type note as well which almost must be searched for but when found is so worth while. Not being done just yet there is a Toast type note that I am also picking up that helps to assist in delivering an overall seriousness to the wines Bouquet. This is a power packed Bouquet and I can't wait to tell you about the palate presentation, so let's get to it.

   The first thing that I noticed and that I want to tell you about concerning this wines Palate presentation is that this wine presents a bit of really nice bit of zippy and fruit engulfed Acidity. In my humble opinion this bit of Acidity could not have been presented at a more preferred level, at least in my opinion. While in one way this wine expresses a tremendous amount of fruit it is also able to restrain itself rather nicely by limiting that fruit expression which it does have rather appropriately. I want now to talk about the Stone Fruit notes which appear on the Palate. Yes, there are undeniable Stone Fruit notes that transfer right on over from the Bouquet onto the Palate of the wine and only gets more intense as the tasting goes on and the wine develops. Let's start with an amazing note of White Apricot which appears on the Palate and meshes so cleanly with that fruit engulfed Acidity and together are just simply awesome, and yeah I do mean awesome. Chardonnay lovers I am drinking......I mean tasting this wine :) and it is super cold which is actually unusual for me as I generally do not like my whites super cold. I say this to you as a heads up of sorts because I highly recommend that you do so as well. This is the type of white that is at presenting its best when it is really cold although it is still quite good as it warms slightly.

Speaking of Stone Fruit how about some wonderful and juicy White Peach as well? Oh my goodness how juicy these fruits are. These two fruits present themselves rather nice together and join in combination with a super minerality note that I want to talk about in a minute. When put together with the acidity and minerality they both go so well with the wines temperature just attacking the Palate in such a welcome way. So, minerality. A pretty evident note of stone really jumps out from the opening and extends itself just beautifully till the Finish. This is just another note to mix with the Stone Fruits, the bit of Acidity and that coldness which the wine is chilled to......just incredible. Aside from the bit of Acidity and minerality there is this incredible, super clean, crispness to the wine.There is just a hair of sugar to the wine that seems like the fruit reminding you that it was grown just right and wants to present everything that a fruit is supposed to present. Moving on now, there is a note of Brown Butter that is presented as well here but have no fears, do not worry as this is NOT an overly buttery, rich  Chardonnay nor is it even a wine that can brag (?) that there really is a buttery note to it all although in reality as I said, there is an ever so slight one.

There is some slight Oak on the Palate yet it is subdued for the most part and not the main focus or even the secondary focus of this wine as with that buttery note thankfully.While I am here, I want....no need to discuss any buttery or oily notes which might destroy a Chardonnay in my book. Remember that my Palate embraced the entire presentation of this wine at the Winery and now and I still believe that this wine is a wonderful example of what the Varietal should be all about and not that "Oak Bomb" mess which seems to be the latest and greatest trend in the expression of the varietal. Let me now tell you what else this wine does NOT have, it does not have an oily type note to it that comes from being overly oaked and I am SOOOO glad as I absolutely hate that in a Chardonnay. The Winery says that the wine was presented with 100% Malollactic Fermentation which usually causes that buttery / oily type of Palate presentation or note yet for some reason this wine is immune from that, it wants nothing to do with it. One more mention of Oak if I may. This wine is presenting an oaked Vanilla type note that comes in around Mid-Palate. The wine is not done Ladies & Gentlemen as there is more for it to offer such as a rather unusual note of Butterscotch comes into play here although it is kept rather low key it is a note that in general effects the overall taste of the wine positively. To me this would seem like a weird note for a wine to be expressing in general yet it it is pulled off amazingly well in this particular wine and does not add any off taste or Sugar effect.

Allow me to go ahead and tell you that there is also an ever so slight tartness exhibited by the wine that is mostly picked up by the sides of the Tongue yet enjoyed overall throughout the Palate as the Palate of course, combines it all together and presents it to you as a whole.I believe this note is brought on by the taste of Lemon Rind on the Finish and yes, once again is indeed amazing. Asian Pear guys. This is a transfer note as well. I first picked this note up on the Bouquet but it rears it's head again on the Palate and throws all it has fruit wise into the wine. What a juicy addition to the overall wine. Wine lovers I have something else that I need to share with you. Simply put, this is the BEST Chardonnay that I have straight out, ever tasted, period, point blank!!!

   Well Chardonnay lovers I am sitting here in my Loft, sipping on this wine and performing this review and I really do not want it to end. I don't believe that I have ever enjoyed or been more impressed with a white wine in general as I am with this one. It is indeed time however to conclude this review so let's get to that Paragraph now.
   Desert Wine Guy followers, this is without a doubt an amazingly well thought out and crafted wine. What this wine presents to you is something well beyond what most wines are even capable of presenting at any price let alone one that retails for $35, for the price the wine is a steal. I will simply tell you right now that on The Desert Wine Guy rating scale I am giving my first ever 96 points to a white wine. This is a non buttery, non oily, non overly oaked Chardonnay. This is a non sugary, fruit packed, minerality / acidity driven winner of a wine. Chardonnay lovers, this is the Pinnacle of the varietals expression in my opinion. The last thing that I want to say is that I suggest that you simply must buy three bottles of this wine as one you will drink right now just to see if I am crazy or not :) and so you will need two to put away in the Cellar without any doubt once you find out that I am not. Well, I must be going now as my New York Pizza is at the door. You deserve the opportunity to taste this incredible Chardonnay.I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

   Before I go I must make mention of Jorge Chavez who was the person assisting me with my Tasting. What a pleasure it was to have met him. Professional, friendly and informative, Jorge was the Man. 


                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy

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