Brynn writes:
Here’s an affordable chardonnay for all you oak haters out there. This chard is crisp, clean, has hints of citrus fruits and best of all — it’s cheap!
I saw this wine recently at Costco and the label caught my eye. It looked like a Hedges Family Estate wine, but as I inspected the label all I could find was “Independent Producers” as the maker. The label also told me the grapes came from the famed Dionysus Vineyard and that the producers were against the 100-point wine-rating system (hence the 100 in the middle of a red circle with a line through it).
A quick search on the Internet though confirms my original suspicions — Hedges Family Estates is behind this wine. I have come to love some of their affordable wines like their CMS red and white, so I was happy to try this one too.
It’s a good chardonnay, and as I said, a great one for those who truly despise the over-oaked chardonnays that have plagued the industry. Mineral notes take the stage with this wine, lending it a brightness that would pair well with a lemon chicken or white fish in a light citrus sauce. It reminds me somewhat of a white Burgundy from France.
Through my search to learn more about this “La Bourgeoisie” label and its anti-100-point system motto, I came across its website, www.scorevolution.com. Here’s the producers’ opinions about rating wine, as posted to the website:
“The 100 point rating system is a clumsy and useless tool for examining wine. If wine is, as we believe, a subjective, subtle, and experiential thing, then by nature it is unquantifiable. Wine scores are merely a static symbol, an absolute definition based on a singular contact with a wine, and thus completely ineffective when applied to a dynamic, evolving, and multifaceted produce.”
For someone who often describes a wine she likes because, well it “just tastes good”, I can appreciate this rebellion against the 100-point system. Bottom line, if you like a wine it shouldn’t matter what rating it got, you’re the one buying and drinking it afterall.
The 2010 La Bourgeoisie Chardonnay is available for under $15.
