Drink dates (Low End 07 Chardonnay) - CellarTracker VS Vintage Charts

I’m exploring new buying options, I expressed in a previous thread that I’m interested in drinking some wines with a bit of age on it.

I know this might not be a good wine to buy, but I am just a little curious at this price point.

https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/the+hess+collection+chard+napa+valley+county+north+coast+california+usa/2007#t2

On CellarTracker it says drink between 2010 and 2015.

On a Napa Valley Chardonnay vintage chart I’ve seen anywhere from drink to past peak.

My guess would be this is past peak but just curious how people determine what wine to buy.

If there’s enough data, I would go off of CellarTracker rather than vintage charts. The particular wines made during any given vintage can vary greatly, and if people on CellarTracker are saying that they recently had the wine and it’s drinking well, or that they think that specific wine can go another 5 years, that’s more relevant than a general vintage score.

With respect to that particular wine, based on the CellarTracker recommendation (for this vintage and all vintages of this particular cuvee) AND the price point of the bottle, I wouldn’t expect this wine to be enjoyable currently. A lot (but certainly not all) of less expensive wine (especially whites) aren’t made to age too long, and are often made to drink near release.

If you only want to spend $20 or less or so on a bottle of older white, I think you’ll have better luck looking for a Riesling. For example, while I wouldn’t expect this to be the best Riesling, it should be a solid and a great way to taste an older white. https://www.jjbuckley.com/wine/2003-p-licht-bergweiler-erben-brauneberger-mandelgraben-riesling-kabinett/2003-198576-750/ (it won’t taste like Chardonnay however). I love JJ Buckley and the shipping is very reasonable as long as you ship several bottles at a time.

Thank you! Intuition also tells me that wine probably is past prime, so thank you for flushing it out for me. Yep! I’ve had some aged Rieslings that I think are a steal for getting some age on wine. Will look into JJ Buckley.