TN: 2018 Walter Scott Chardonnay X-Novo Vineyard

From last nights Zoom virtual offline

  • 2018 Walter Scott Chardonnay X-Novo Vineyard
    - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (3/19/2020)
    This wine is Pale Gold and clear in the glass. The nose is quite lush with peach, melon, lemon zest, pineapple, minerality, and the slightest hint of caramel. It tastes as it smells. I get peach, pineapple and lemon zest, and nectarine on the tip of the palate. The acid/minerality and barrel kind of bounce on the mid-palate and the medium finish. Not as tightly wound or flinty as some earlier versions. It’s drinking fantastic on Pop and Pour right now, Its open for business. The acid is a little softer and fruits a bit rounder on this vintage IMO. My wife guessed it was Goodfellow Richard’s Cuvee when blinded last night. Not far off. Another lovely example of this spectacular vineyard from Walter Scott.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Thanks for taking one for the team here! I’m excited to open mine in a few years. Had the '16 last week and it needed a 30min decant to really show its stuff (which was a lot of great stuff). I think '16 was much more tightly wound than '17 or '18 appear to be though.

Great note, Sean! Had you spouted that off during our Zoom offline last night it would have sounded like a lecture!

For folks interested, this wine is for sale right now in the Quarantine Relief forum…

Very cool, Sean, and high praise indeed by your wife. I was already thinking about Pobega-ing a bottle whenever mine arrive.

Now that we already have a “sighting” for the X-novo, I may decide to do the Seven Springs instead [cheers.gif] .

Agree, The 16 is wound tighter and hint more acid-driven. The 17 is in between. This one surprised me most with the ripeness of fruit and approachability on Pop and pour. Also for a wine that sees 50% new oak it hides it very well. Its not obtrusive or disjointed at all…

Sean

nice virtually meeting you Sean.
coincidentally, i was once blinded the Richard’s Cuvee once and called X-novo…
in hindsight i think the x-novo has a bit more flint than goodfellow chards, but maybe they are similar!

I’m really excited to try the '18 Seven Springs. Mine just came in.

Has anyone tasted the Seven Springs and if so, how would you compare it to X-Novo?

Quick Note: Finished on night 2. By night 2 the fruit had died down the new oak was showing more. Subtly changed the wine enough. Better on night 1 at this point. Served closer to room temp on night2 versus chilled on night1. That certainly makes a difference as well.

Sean

Thanks for the note Sean, big fan of Walter Scott and X-Novo, the 16 is a dead ringer for a high White Burg, and this sounds great too. I just picked up a few 7 Springs Chard, Sojeau Pinot and the X-Novo Pinot. Erica said the X-Novo should be drinking well early so I’ll crack one next week for sure to see whats what.

Had the 14’ WS Freedom Hill recently. It showed clean and even but not much interest or tension/energy left in the wine. Had the distinct feeling that it would’ve been better on release and/or with a year in bottle instead of four.

Quarantine relief wines arrived yesterday. Both are really good and definitely worthy of the Walter Scott name. I will post detailed notes tonight on night after further notes. The Rock Salt is flinty/minerally goodness. The 12 east 12 shows this nice ripe fruit with great acidity in a nice restrained package. More than happy with both of these.

Sean

Has anyone tried the X-Novo Pinot noir?

2013 Vojtilla tonight was very fine.

How does it compare to the 2017? Have a couple bottles of that en route to me :slight_smile:

A 2012 Vojtilla recently was lifeless. I have several more and am very disappointed by its trajectory. In their youth, they were stunning and I don’t recall experiencing then, their current levels of reduction.

I tasted a barrel of 12 Votjilla and was very impressed and bought a few. A bottle opened in 18 was great, but the last one did not impress as much. The 13 is in a good place now.

I was at a tasting with Erika a year and a half ago in Los Angeles, she had a 2012 Vojtilla with her and gifted it to us as a parting gift and it was pretty tasty. We popped it at room temperature (we were that eager to try it) and it was pretty explosive. Bad bottle perhaps? The 2012s I’ve had from them have been really fine wines.

Joseph, 2012 was one of the last vintages using regular cork. In 2014 we switched to Diam, not just because of cork taint issues, but the incredible lack of consistency using traditional cork. I would expect and hope that this is just a bottle variation issue. When you open another one let us know. We will do the same.

This is such an extraordinary wine. Charlie pushed like hell for me to buy a case, promising to take whatever I didn’t want, and he’s not getting a single bottle. It is among the best Chardonnays I’ve ever had, across the board, across a wide array of price points. The perfect combination of tropical fruit, white flowers, Meyer lemon, lively acidity, the perfect amount of flint, and that mineral-laden salinity that keeps you interested. A complex and rewarding wine, good at refrigerator temperature or near-room temperature (not all Chardonnays are good at multiple temperatures like this).

My next Walter Scott purchase will include a few other Chardonnays…but I’ll be re-loading on this one as well.

Wow! High praise but man, this is the chard that can elicit these type of reactions, no question.

Speaking of X Novo - I’m having the 18 X Novo Pinot tonight and will be sure to report back.