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Compton Family Chardonnay 2017
$25 a bottle
Opens with white peach on the nose, crisp and bright on the palate with stone fruit and tropical notes.Finish is long and lovely with a hint of yellow grapefruit at the end.
Old Vine Chardonnay in a brand-new winemaking style. This Chardonnay is Concrete Egg Fermented.Concrete has been used in winemaking for hundreds of years in the old world. The new trend is the egg shape. The oversize egg is believed to create a natural vortex. As fermentation gasses are released, they are forced to move from the bottom of the tank to the narrow opening at the top. The movement eliminates or reduces the need for lees stirring.
Lees, what is that? you might ask. Lees are deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast and other particles. These lees settle down the long sides of the egg and add creaminess to the wine’s mouthfeel. The other unique benefit of Concrete is that it doesn’t impart any flavors from the concrete into the wine, but at the same time allows the wine to breath which lends to softening and developing thewine flavors.
Vineyards: The grapes are from Hoot and Hollow Vineyard.
If you are like us, you check out the customer reviews when you go shopping online. So we decided to do the tasting notes for this wine a bit differently. The following are the notes from a group of Corvallis area wine enthusiasts tasting the 2018 vintage. We hope their candid comments are helpful to you.
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Experienced Oregon wine tasters all, this group was ready for a crisp, Oregon-style Chardonnay. Noses into glass and lots of swirling later, the consensus is that this is a classic Oregon Chardonnay with a perfumed nose of citron, white flowers, and vanilla.
Glasses up, and tasting reveals more flavors typical of a well-made Oregon Chardonnay – balanced acidity, juicy fruit, delicate stone fruit – white peaches and white nectarines – finishing crisp and refreshing.
Someone said they’d love this wine with freshly caught halibut and that started an enthusiastic discussion about what food to pair with the wine – “Get back here! No you cannot start cooking! We have more wines to taste!”
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