Olivet Lane Chardonnays from Pellegrini Winery

Tasting notes & discussion 15

Worried the Summer heat will get to your wine before it gets to you? Try our new Summer Hold option here!

Typically $50-$65/bottle from Pellegrini Winery
Vintage 2021 and 2018 from the Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast and the Russian River Valley
Available for AL; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; FL; GA; ID; IL; IN; IA; KS; KY; LA; ME; MD; MA; MI; MN; MO; MT; NE; NV; NH; NJ; NM; NY; NC; ND; OH; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WA; WI
Sold by participating winery or licensee, fulfilled by Wine Country Connect

About Pellegrini Winery: “The Pellegrini Family has been associated with every tier of the wine business since the early part of the 20th Century — as wine producers, grape sellers, importers, and wholesale distributors.”

Five Wounds, No Papaya

TASTING NOTES:

2021 Olivet Lane Unoaked Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast - “An exemplary vintage, the 2021 Olivet Lane Unoaked Chardonnay bursts with aroma of pear, ginger, and hay straw. On the tongue, zippy lemon curd, passionfruit, and papaya highlight the grandiose mouth feel and length of finish.” (AbV 13.6%, pH 3.62, TA 7.31 g/L)

2018 Olivet Lane Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County - “Truly a bounty of complexity, the 2018 Olivet Lane Chardonnay jumps into the nose with lemon verbena, pear, sage, nutmeg, and toasted coconut. Upon the first sip, pralines, caramel, baked apples, and star anise ring in symphony with the bright acid, conveying lemon curd, granny smith apple, and white peach.” (AbV 14.2%, pH 3.48, TA 5.86 g/L)

VARIETALS: 100% Chardonnay. Gravelly, clay loam soils.

BARRELS: 10 months in steel drum & tank

PAIRS WITH: medium soft cheese and quince paste

THAT REMINDS ME OF: Passionfruit.

Spanish missionaries in 16th-century South America looked at the passionflower and saw a religious PowerPoint presentation. This is not a joke — they called it flor de las cinco llagas, “flower of the five wounds,” and then proceeded to allegorize literally every part of the plant. The three stigmas were the three nails. The five anthers were the five wounds of the crucifixion. The fringe of filaments in the center was the crown of thorns. Ten petals and sepals stood for ten faithful apostles (Judas and Peter got cut, for obvious reasons). Even the tendrils got drafted — whips, apparently — and the leaf shape supposedly evoked a spear.

It’s an absurd amount of symbolic labor to extract from one flower, and yet it worked well enough that “passion” stuck to the name permanently, even after it wandered into English attached to a completely different, much less sacred idea of “passion.” The fruit itself was just along for the ride — nobody was out here reading the Stations of the Cross into a papaya.

ICYMI, you have two choices:

Worried Summer heat might get to your wine before your wine gets to you? Order from the sale linked here, and we’ll get it to you at a cooler time of year!
Want it shipped now? Every package during the summer will have protected temp control ground shipping for much of the country that takes longer but will ensure safe delivery. Expect up to two weeks for delivery. Now through the September 12th offer.

Who's buying this?

How are you buying your bottles?

Missionaries turned a flower into a full crucifixion allegory. How much symbolism do you read into everyday things?

I find meaning in almost everything around me

I find meaning in almost everything around me
I'll notice a pattern here and there, nothing deep

I'll notice a pattern here and there, nothing deep
I take things pretty literally, symbolism isn't my thing

I take things pretty literally, symbolism isn't my thing
I'm more likely to invent a joke than a metaphor

I'm more likely to invent a joke than a metaphor
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