#4 Stags’ Leap Chardonnay (2008)
Let’s see, Stag’s Leap Chardonnay. It comes in an amber bottle with classy cursive script. A suicidal deer on label. Actually, given the plurality of “Stags’”, many a stag has presumably leaped from that very spot. A clear pee-like yellow liquid (assuming you are sufficiently hydrated). The weirdest thing about pee is that it’s warm. Chill your white wine folks.
Let’s get down to it! A little sweet, but extremely drinkable. Reminds me of wine we drank a lot in college. Feel like it would be good with spicy food. My meatball sandwich proved insufficiently spicy for adequate testing. Tofu salad didn’t meat the spicy quota either. A bit acidic (in a good way). No stand-out fruit bouquets though. Mostly just smells of grapes. Tastes like…wine.
I really want to learn about wine through this process, but so far these are not stunning examples of viticulture. Hats off to the guys who actually review this stuff. Kind of like grading the silica content in a bucket of dirt. You could analyze the dirt and spend a whole bunch of time actually finding the stats. Or you could just guess and come up with some great descriptive sentences describing the complexity of the dirt. Sure does fit in with the rest of our home decor. Reasonably prices but not classless. It’s not like we’re drinking out of jugs, barefoot.
Anyway, the cat sniffed my glass then licked his nose, then backed away. Cat approval = 3.5 (for reference the cat approval scales starts at minty toothpaste at 0, then maxes out at 10 with cat nip). Not really marketed towards cats. Or ground-based stags either. The stag on the label (Jess calls it “kitchy and cute”), does appear to be taking a hesitant step towards the afterlife. Or perhaps there is a meadow just out of the picture and I’m thinking about this way too much.
Why does it always take me 1/2 a bottle to come to a decision on a wine? The professionals can do it in one sip. Amazing.
When to drink: The second date. Drinkable enough to inspire conversation, and with sufficient alcohol content to help forget said conversation. Probably won’t stain a blouse too bad if you really hit it off and get frisky on the table.
-Grant and Jessica
