Benziger Family Chardonnay 2004

Benziger is a winery that Mark and I visited on our trip to California wine country in 2001. They take visitors on a tram tour though the vineyards, and offer a wealth of interesting info. Benziger also has one of the best, most informative web sites around. The site includes winemaker's notes, info on the current growing conditions, harvest reports, and in depth notes on each wine. Benziger practices "biodynamic farming" which is apparently the equivalent of holistic medicine -- integrating the vineyard with its surrounding environment. I like that - it's very new age.

This particular Benziger wine is a 2004 Los Carneros Chardonnay. (To read the winemaker's notes for this wine, click here). The color was a very pale gold, with a bouquet of apple, wood, and freshly cut grass. The taste was crisp, Granny Smith apples. I found it to be nicely balanced and fairly dry. My parents (the Manishewitz drinkers) tried this with me. My dad didn't like it and is still waiting for me to get my hands on a bottle of Fortant Chardonnay, which for some reason is hard to find. My mom made a valiant effort to really taste this wine, and chimed in that the bouquet reminded her of moss.

"The best use of bad wine is to drive away poor relations." -- French proverb