Sutter Home, California, Chardonnay 2006 The nose features oak, butter and tropical fruit. In the mouth the concentration is low yet the wine is clean. There’s a little residual sugar to amplify the fruit and a buttery quality that is quite popular.
I realize that this is a wine that most wine writers would ignore because it is cheap and more than widely available. For me, however, cheap is not a bad thing if the wine is clean. Think about the flawed wines for which we’ve all paid more than $10.
So while this Chardonnay isn’t deeply concentrated or sourced from a single famous vineyard and while it has some RS – so frowned upon by the cognescenti when applied to Chardonnay but employed to a greater degree than many realize, it is cheap and cheerful. You can see why it picked up a Silver at the 2008 Chronicle Wine Competition in the under $14 category – not bad for less than a fiver. Vinted and bottled in Napa 13% $4.49, purchased at Bottle Barn Sutter Home Winery