TN: 2016 Ladd Cellars Chardonnay (USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast)

  • 2016 Ladd Cellars Chardonnay - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (6/12/2020)
    Bright golden yellow in the Grassl glass with hints of copper. The nose was reticent upon PNP into the decanter. After an hour or so in the decanter, the nose explodes, rich, lush caramel, pineapple, hints of Meyer lemon, and some apple. Honestly, at this point, you might be thinking this is going to be a typical big rich and buttery California Chardonnay, but Its certainly not. On the palate, bright acid, Meyer lemon, and underripe pineapple notes and caramel. These flavors dance around on the mid-palate for a while and then fade gently on the medium finish. I love the back and forth of the tropical fruit, the acid, and the caramel richness. The richness is quite noticeable, but it is in balance with the other flavors. After a few hours in the decanter, this wines transforms more, and the minerality and seashells come out on the nose and palate. The barrel richness is more in check. This wine seems to have the structure to age well and is closed with a Diam 10. 13.5% ABV. Delicous Chardonnay.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Yep - I think this is what he does best.

I take it the pic is straight from CT? Different vintage.

Yes should add a new lable pic.

Sean

Thanks Seanā€¦Iā€™m thrilled that you liked this.

Your note brought up that my Chardonnays benefit from some air, most chardonnays at this level do. My preference is to pour a cup or so into a pyrex glass measuring cup and pour it back in the bottle an hour or two ahead. I mention the pyrex because its pouring lip fits perfectly in the top of the bottle and I donā€™t spill when in a rush.

You mentioned (in the friday evening zoom session) you open your whites at ~60 degrees, which is great for getting the full pictureā€¦too easy to miss stuff when theyā€™re too cold. Sometimes Iā€™ll open it closer to 50, to change things up, which shows the citrus side more. When Iā€™m at home, I have a glass some evenings, over 3-6 days. It holds up quite well, and the mineral/seashell thing expands nicely. Along these lines, my 2015 of this was recently in an itb tasting, single blind all decanted, and was the consensus pick as the 11 Comtes Lafon Meursault Clos de la Barre.

2016 Ladd Cellars Chardonnay - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (5/3/2022)
ā€“ decanted approx. 30 min. before initial taste ā€“
ā€“ tasted non-blind over 2 hours ā€“

NOSE: lots of reduction, even after 30 min. in the decanter; expressive; high-toned; lemony gueuze.

BODY: medium golden yellow color; medium-light bodied; Diam 10 closure.

TASTE: nice intensity of fruit, but with ample mineral that pushes forward on the assertive finish; high acidity; 13.5% alc. not noticeable; intense and delicious!

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I have 15/16/17/18 of this and a ā€˜17 Viole. Wonder what to open?

All excellent across the board.

Seriously

Anyone try '14s lately? I have a bottle each of SoCo and CuvƩe Voile.

Thanks for all the great comments, and the great write up Brian!

I agree the vintages 15-18 are showing well on a PNP, or better yet with a brief double decant to help open them upā€¦pouring a cup of wine into a 2 cup, or whatever size, pyrex measuring cup (my current preference) and back. I prefer them at a cool cellar temp, a bit cooler if they donā€™t get air ahead. The 18-19s are showing well as wellā€¦but they benefit from more air, or the same amount of air, but double decant earlier in the day (or night before if that works better for your schedule).

I agree with Brig that you can start anywhere (15-18)ā€¦I think the 17sc is a good place to startā€¦esp for Greggā€™s question.

Larry: I opened a bottle each of the 2014 SC and Voile a few months ago and they both showed well, esp with some air (I had them over 4 nights and they showed interesting & different things each night). The 14s were pressed with a different press than current Europress that I use. I canā€™t remember the name of the prior one, pretty sure it was Italian tho. Anyways, it was ā€˜rougherā€™ at pressing the grapes/stems than the Europress. So there is more subtle (or not?) skin & stem tannins to the 14s. I believe all my Chardonnayā€™s will age well for a long time and develop in interesting/appealing ways. I think this will be esp true for the 14s. So holding on to them seems interesting to me. Just what you needā€¦another wine to hold on to :slight_smile: ! If I were to drink one now and hold the other, Iā€™d drink the 14 Voileā€¦no other reason than itā€™s showing well & interesting now, and I have a better sense where the 14sc will be in the future.

Thanks!

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Ah, I forgot to mentionā€¦I bottled my 2020 SC Chardonnay several weeks ago (no taintā€¦ and no voile, just as well, given all the bad vintage luck floating around). Itā€™s a bit bottle shocked still, but it seems like a combination of 17 & 15 with a dash of 19, which Iā€™m looking forward to seeing what it ā€˜grows up intoā€™, should be interesting whatever it becomes.

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Been sitting with the '17 for an hour now and really enjoying this. Hereā€™s my note from CT:

Just great chardonnay. Bright clear pale straw yellow with a touch of green. A slightly gunflinty reductive character on the nose, slate, lemon oil, a bit of tropical fruit/pineapple, musky white flowers. Clean and bright acidity, great balance and texture, bright fruit balanced with minerality, some bass notes come in on the finish that merges into a persistent orange rind citrus acidity. Clearly rooted in California but with some nice Chablis-ish / Burg-ish character separating it from the pack. Fantastic for the price.

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Is this the same wine we had at Steveā€™s via Mike? Was so good. Hope you have more [cheers.gif]

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Dennis, I opened the 2014 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay at Steveā€™s, so same wine but different vintage. From Bradā€™s note I conclude that the character is consistent across vintages, which is very good news.

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Yeah, the ā€œhouse styleā€ is consistent across the vintages with the Chardonnay.

There are small variations in oak perception, salinity, and acidity. More minor fluctuations than anything.

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Night 2 feels even more lemon-slate chablis, darn good

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Just grabbed a '16 Sonoma Coast and weā€™re looking forward to this tonight.

Thanks for all the posts/thoughts/etc about the winesā€¦all astute observations!

Thoughts about oak and consistency and various in the wine:

2013: The first chardonnay vintage, and with this vineyardā€¦a smallish glitch in picking was resolved by buying more the next year with the successful hopes of small consesions. :slight_smile:. Iā€™m lucky to work with the vineyard after all, including getting fruit from the block no one else wanted, yet continues to thrill meā€¦win-win (seriously)! The most oaky vintage at 30% new. Yet, it taught me a lot about where it wanted me to go, and what it expected of me while were in this relationship! :slight_smile:

2014: The ā€˜tough-loveā€™ vintage, mostly because it took more than a year to make itā€™s way through ML. The reward was being taught about Sous Voile Chardonnay. Ok, Iā€™m on for the ride! Fortunately, no new oak, or less than 5% new oak (depending on how you count) was used.

2015 was a truly strange vintageā€¦the vineyard/block produced stunning amounts of acid. A perfect spring wrt producing acid lead to acid levels more appropriate to making madiera in the 1800s. Patience lead to a vintage with an oddly/excellently balanced wineā€¦9g/l TA (at picking) with a mid 14% alcohol wine (at bottling) and a taut constuction. Still one of my favs

2016: The vineyard clearly feels Iā€™ve begun to learn my lessions, because weā€™re at the beginning of a nice routine (including exptional/balanced acidity)! I reward the wine with ~15% new oak. Fortunately itā€™s now at the early stages of fully integrating the oak.

2017: The last vintage with noticable levels of new oak (not necessarily forever!)ā€¦this with ~10% new (medium-light, so it shows a bit more, but integrates, eventually, well).

2018: No new oak at allā€¦but appears to have some, on a regular basis. This goes away with air tho, so itā€™s some sort of reduction trickery!

2019: Also no new oak, and has accepted itā€™s fate, unlike the 2018. Excellent minerality as a tradeoff.

2020: Still a work in progress, and recently in bottleā€¦extremely promising.

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