I don't like people who talk about a topic as if they are knowledgeable about that topic but in the end, they actually know nothing about it. Today I was bored and did a quick search on YouTube concerning the company Naked Wines. I clicked on the first video I saw which took me to a guy's page where he proceeded to tell us all that he wasn't much of a drinker. This guy was unboxing six wines that he got from the company, Naked Wines and immediately proceeded to tell us all how he overpaid for the wines because they were cheap (think bad) wines. Now keep in mind that admittedly he hadn't even tasted any of the wines yet but he was already judging them. As folks who read this blog I ask you, how would you feel if I told you upfront that I wasn't going to actually taste a particular wine but was going to rate it very well? Yeah, that is what this guy is doing. Now before I go on, I need to let you know that I don't care if you ever buy anything from Naked Wines as I have no skin in the game but what I do care about is someone who goes out of his or her way to purposefully mislead people in any area. To me, it's like this guy does have something against the company like he does have some skin in the game. He then proceeded to talk about the winemakers who he felt without any supporting evidence were "new to winemaking" and that was the wines you were buying. One of those winemakers who is "new to winemaking" (not) is Dave Harvey. Now again, I don't know Mr. Harvey but just a little bit of research showed that he actually has 25 years of experience making wines and has worked for some prestigious wineries. I guess I shouldn't let this stuff bother me but unfortunately, it just does. In the end here, I can only suggest that people "stay in their own lane" if you know what I mean. Now, I feel so much better guys having said all this I think I will do a review on the failings of the human heart....nah, just kidding. Let's get into today's wine review :)
Today I will be revisiting (taking a re-look) at the 2017 Barrel Burner, Chardonnay. I reviewed this wine before but haven't posted that review and I don't recall what I rated it at the time. At the end of this re-look, I will check that review and see how the scores compare. The bottled is cork sealed and cost me $13.99 and was bought from Naked Wines. The wine is a
blend of three different grape varietals which are 89% Chardonnay, 9%
Roussanne, 2% Marsanne. The wine was aged for 6 months on 25% medium
plus toasted new French Oak. Alcohol-wise, the wine comes in at what I consider to be a rather high percentage of 14.4%. The winemakers are Nicholas & Marshall Miller and the grapes for this wine come from the Paso Robles Highlands District in California.
Checking out the label here, I really like it. I just love the burnt parchment paper look to it. The label even almost feels like a parchment paper, it's cool. The look of the paper being chard really gives life to the fonts used and their placement on the label really helps in setting it off.
Let's go ahead now and check out the bouquet of this white wine. Overall, I am getting notes of very ripe nectarine as well as some oak and white flowers. While I do enjoy the nose of the wine, at the same time I hope the palate isn't overly dominated by these notes in a super tropical way.
As far as the palate characteristics of the wine are concerned, here is what I am getting. The wine starts off not too well as I am getting a noticeable alcohol burn in my chest. While there is a possibility of that burn disappearing after the wine opens a bit, at this time that is not something I can testify to. Moving on now, I can testify to the fact that the wine is buttery....did I say buttery, yeah guys, buttery :( Now before I go on, let me tell you that I do not care for Chardonnays that lean towards the buttery side, like at all. This particular wine doesn't just lean however, it falls.....flat. Lush and overly tropical green pear is a pretty big player here guys and while it is certainly fresh and juicy, it is just sweet and just isn't fitting in with that butteriness very well at all. There is definitely a "lushness" to the wine as the Naked Wines website says, however....(dramatic pause for effect)....that lushness helps to create a wine that is.....picked up as being heavy on the palate, almost with a viscosity of sorts. Add this to that sweetness and you have a bad mix. Okay guys, vanilla. I get that this is a Chardonnay that sat in oak and I get that vanilla is a note that is to be expected from a white wine sitting in oak but to this extent? Really? I think it is way overdone. Acidity-wise, there is nice acidity here, and in a good wine that had some other things working for it, it would work out well but here, yeah, it doesn't help the wine out any. Okay, guys, I am done with this wine, I don't want to (can't) continue on as the wine is just not good. I will see you in the conclusion paragraph.
Alright, Chardonnay lovers, I am sorry the ending of this review was so abrupt but...well.....does the word "gross" mean anything? I guess perhaps I am simply not getting the point of this wine. The wine is not a clean, crisp, minerality-driven, Chardonnay. That is the Chardonnay expression I am more partial to for sure. If this is your preference as well then you can flat-out forget about buying this wine as it is oceans apart from that style of Chardonnay. I get that there are so many Chardonnays today that have the same characteristics as this particular wine but this wine takes that to the max. I have to just come out and say (again) that I am not a lover of this wine at all, I don't like it. On The Desert Wine Guy rating scale, I am giving this wine 85 points which it just so happens to be the original rating I gave this wine a few months ago.
P.S - By the way, that alcohol burn never did leave the wine and it persisted for the entire review which in total was about an hour as I never like to rush to judgment about any wine.
The Desert Wine Guy
No comments:
Post a Comment