I’ve worked my way through an early look at Marcus’s 19 Chardonnays and am finally getting these on WB. I tasted the wines usually over a couple days, and have had a a few of the Berserker Day wine and the Durant bottlings. Here’s my unprofessional thoughts.
[*]2019 Goodfellow Family Cellars Chardonnay Berserker Cuvée Temperance Hill - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (4/14/2021)
A flinty nose with citrus pith, asian pear, and a sense of stoniness. This is complicated on the palate. It’s seemingly midweighted and graceful, yet deep and subtly powerful, all with terrific cut. There is lift and finesse in contrast to its toothsome intensity, all delivered with a weightless hand. Floral and lifted with beautiful pure chardonnay fruit with a subtle touch of wood. I had hoped to drink this over a few nights to watch it develop, but it was far too delicious to allow my plan to come to fruition. Detailed, elegant and harmonious wine. It comes across an effortlessly beautiful. Outstanding. Mouthwatering. 93 (93 pts.)[/list]
Posted from CellarTracker
Side by side WR and Durant
[*]2019 Goodfellow Family Cellars Chardonnay Whistling Ridge Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Ribbon Ridge (12/1/2021)
More floral and lifted than the Durant. Sweet tart, lemon confit, jasmine, and pear on the nose. Mid weighted and little softer around the edges than the Durant. A floral and fresh fruit driven nose. Light to mid weighted. Very pretty if a little less detailed than the Durant. Still outstanding. A hint of wood spice adds to the mineral-soil stony notes, along with pretty citrus and pear notes, jasmine florals and sweet tart. Graceful and pretty if less focused than the Durant. It suffers only in comparison to the Durant, which for me is terrific. 92 (92 pts.)
[*]2019 Goodfellow Family Cellars Chardonnay Durant Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Dundee Hills (12/1/2021)
Lemon drop, florals, and a sense of soil. Light to midweighted, graceful and beautifully balanced. This achieves the difficult marriage of intensity without weight. There is plenty going on, it is all just whispered, dancing on the palate. It’s subtle and beautifully detailed with a terrific sense of minerality. The fruit on the palate is more lemon than asian pear, with lovely jasmine florals, and sweet tart. What I love the most is the sense of fleeting beauty and effortlessness to the wine. This is a wine of harmony with its mouthwateringly fresh fruit beautifully balanced to its acidity and stoniness. Delicious. 93+ (93 pts.)
I tend ot prefer his Durant Chardonnay over his Whistling ridge regular bottling for Chardonnay. It is more of a style thing for me rather than absolute quality. Interestingly, I feel the inverse for his pinots.
[*]2019 Goodfellow Family Cellars Chardonnay Temperance Hill - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (12/3/2021)
Pop and pour. Drunk over a couple days.
A touch of matchstick redction at first that blows off. The most serious of the 19 Chards chez Goodfellow I’ve had. I have not had The Richard’s yet, but it is on deck. Stony, flinty nose with lemon confit, unripe pineapple, white florals, and stony sense. Mid weighted, structured, yet simultaneously lithe and beautifully detailed. This is the most inwardly turned of the three I tried this week. It’s structured and deep, but never heavy. A terrific contrast of intensity without weight. Great focus and clarity here. On the palate, its mouthwateringly fresh, like drink form a cold stream with lemon pith, asian pear, some cooling green herbal tones, salted almond, and rocks. This seems more soil and mineral driven with a saline- oyster shell slant that adds complexity. Beautiful acidic balance keep this light on its feet. Simultaneously complicated and long, yet refreshing mouthwatering and incredibly easy to drink. A rock heads wine. Well done. Terrific.
On day two, this has more detail, with a crystalline degree of focus. Love it. 94+ (94 pts.)
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2019 Goodfellow Family Cellars Chardonnay Richard’s Cuvee Whistling Ridge Vineyard - USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Ribbon Ridge (12/4/2021)
Pop and poured, drunk over several hours.
Citrus pith, asian pear, jasmine, and a sense of stoniness- minerality on the nose. Toothsome and intense yet still mid weighted at most. This has a chiseled stoniness and terrific depth on the palate, yet dances on the palate with a sense of lightness that belies its hidden power and depth. It is like the regular Whistling Ridge was focused and distilled into a tighter and more serious frame, yet kept a sense of delicacy and fleeting beauty. More citrus fruit, pear, subtle white florals, and a sense of stoniness on the palate. Reminds me of Lamy’s En Remilly. Weightless power. I bet this shines even more in time. Youthfully outstanding. 94+
With air time, this fleshes out a bit and gains more floral jasmine like notes. (94 pts.)
Overall,I am terribly impressed with the quality of the 19 Chardonnays from Goodfellow. My favorite vintage I have tried (caveat, I have only had his Chardonnays back to '14). Everything spoke of its terroir with clarity and focus. The Temperance Hill and Richard’s were fantastic. I am very excited to see what further magic he can conjure going forward from Temperance Hill chardonnay fruit. I hope to be able to drink some of these when they are at peak, but it is going to take a Herculean degree of willpower to achieve that goal.
Thank you Marcus for adding to my overall happiness!
Thanks for reading.