Porter-Bass 2008 Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay - 4 Pack
$79.99 + $5 shipping
CONDITION: White
PRODUCT: 4 2008 Porter-Bass Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay, Russian River Valley
CT link above
Just speculating on how Cesare always gets the first post with all the great information. I read somewhere that he is not a Woot employee, so Cesare is obviously an old man with Sundowners syndrome.Just look at that mug shot, it is totally fake!Maybe I am mistaken, and he is a Wootbot and that technically makes him “employed” by Woot. Maybe he is a stay at home mom with insomnia? He could be a paid Shill who works for every winery known to man. And this is his job man! Or perhaps he is just a vampire. IDK what do you guys think?
For the winemaker, how long will these cellar for?
Winery price $30
“Winemaking: We picked the Heintz Chardonnay on October 7. The fruit was destemmed and pressed to barrel where it underwent a native fermentation beginning at 23.5 Brix. The wine was aged in French oak 30% was aged in a new French oak 500 Liter puncheon… For the first half year the wine was stirred bimonthly. The wine had a slow and steady secondary fermentation. We bottled August 1”
But no further specs like we are accustomed to seeing here.
Luke…?
I would be happy to answer any questions about the wine some may take a few minutes to look up.
Thanks Luke! How long do you believe these will cellar for?
He works for wikipedia and just cant get enough posting things that link to other things so he does this on the side. Not theory, fact!
The Heintz Vineyard is famous for aging very well. I just decanted a bottle and after two hours it was opening up and tasting great this is an indicator that it has structure to age. If one has the patience I think three to five years would be a safe cellar time.
Interesting that Mill went in on a white wine offering.
He is in fact human. The fact that he always gets the first post and is often mistaken for a bot comes up at pretty much every gathering that he’s at.
Sounds good to me! In for one, Thanks!
I tasted the '08 Heintz vineyard chard from Littorai earlier this summer and it was a gem. It was also $50+. If this is anything like it, it’s a steal.
We are in the midst of our first storm of the season. I must go make sure nothing is floating away. I will return in the morning to answer questions.
[labrat]
LABRAT REPORT!!!
(POLARBEAR22 is stuck on the Cape without a connection, so he sent this on Sunday to post today)
Here goes.
2008 Porter-Bass Chardonnay
The labrat e-mail recommended that I decant this wine. Since periodically, I can follow good advice. I did decant the wine. However, sticking with advice is not my strong suit, so I immediately poured some into a glass. They were right, this needs to be decanted. The small amount in the glass was acceptable after 30 minutes or so, but we let the remainder decant for an hour.
The wine is a deep golden color in the glass. Deeper than most wines I have had recently.
On the nose, there is a clear mineral note. There is just a subtle fruit note that seems tropical, and possibly some apple.
The wine has a big mouthfeel, lots of viscosity. Moderate oak. I expected there to be strong buttery flavors with the big mouthfeel, but the butter is barely there. This Chardonnay is more tart and mineral, with a little lemon. It is creamy with nice acidity.
The finish is moderate to long, with nice acidity and tartness.
We drank the wine over two hours. It remained with the large mouthfeel and creaminess. It got a little less tart, but the nice acidity remained.
My wife described this wine as having what she likes in a Sauvignon Blanc – crisp and tart – but with more body and richness.
We had this with chicken soup made with leftover roast chicken. It would have been better with the chicken the first time. By the time anyone reads this, we will be having fresh oysters on Cape Cod. I wish that we could match this wine with the oysters. I think they would have gone well together.
So on to some research. The winery website was down this weekend. I hope they are up for the offer. This wine was stirred on the lees, which is what brings out the creamy mouthfeel. The light oak and lack of MLF makes this wine more Burgundian in style. I won’t go further and try to peg it to a region in Burgundy, as by this time the wine is gone.
I did find a note that this started at 22.5 Brix.
This is unlike most of the CA Chardonnays that I have had recently. Not a fan of the buttery Chards for most occasions. I prefer the crisp, unoaked Chardonnays. The big mouthfeel made this different, yet it was crisp and creamy without being buttery. We really liked this, and plan to purchase a set. SWIBM be damned.
+1
I have only a phone connection.
I will first confirm that is my labrat report. Thanks to Texacaliali.
And I just ordered. This wine needs aging, or a decant and some patience.
SWIBM has to take a break for this one after tasting.
http://wine.woot.com/images/labrat.jpg
I was incredibly excited to see this bottle in our package - while I am not very familiar with Porter Bass as a winery, all of the Sonoma superstars make a Heintz Vineyard chardonnay and I had high expectations.
As advised by the labrat email, we decanted - and the wine sings with air. Give it an hour or two, and to further overuse a meaningless phrase, you have a wine that tastes very ‘Burgundian.’
Because it’s late, here are my tasting notes, list style:
nutty, toasty nose with heat that blows off somewhat over time
golden yellow, lemony color
unfiltered?
slight roundness
big minerality
apple, apricots
obvious oak, but not distracting
interesting, balanced
bright acidity, killer structure, integration
A freaking great bottle of wine
Having consumed way too much 7-8% ries this summer, this is hitting like a freight train… the alcohol provides a slight harshness that I’m out of practice with.
Our dinner was:
sauteed shrimp w/ butter, garlic, and chives
carrots braised w/ ginger in butter and oj
mizuna salad
Paired brilliantly, especially with the dishes containing butter.
I was looking forward to seeing the price here, and at $21.25/bottle shipped, I will definitely go in for a 4-pack.
A huge thank you to Porter Bass and Woot for this opportunity!
Is winery website working for anyone? It wouldn’t work at all this weekend and still won’t work for me. Even Caesar’s kink. Though it could be poor connection.
and “Yeah” for woot birthday code. I actually remembered to use it.
Was up in Guerneville yesterday. Wish I had known about the winery, would have stopped in (assuming there’s a tasting room open during week).
This storm is not fun, got pretty crazy over night here in Bodega Bay.