2021 Sawtooth Classic Fly Series Chenin Blanc, Snake River Valley, Idaho
Tasting Notes
Patience and technique bring the best reward. Sawtooth wines reflect the Snake River Valley’s majestic mountains, rivers, and vineyards. Our Classic Fly Series Chenin Blanc is a beautiful aromatic white with herbal aromas accompanied by citrus notes that lead into flavors of green apple and citrus with bright acid. Pair with seafood like crab, prawns or oysters, spring vegetables, salmon, light seafood pasta, or risotto dishes.
Vintage Note
The 2021 Idaho Harvest started with a mixture of sunshine, clouds, and rain during bloom. Then the heat arrived in June. As much of the Northwest would
experience, summer in Idaho would bring the hottest temperatures on record with little precipitation. The heat held back the size of the clusters and expedited timing of fruit ripeness; Mother Nature hastened the 2021 harvest. White varieties show expressive aromatics of stone and tropical fruit flavors with bright acids. All in all, 2021 brought a well-earned, successful harvest with excellent quality.
2020 Ste Chapelle Open Air Red Blend, Snake River Valley, Idaho
Tasting Notes
This red blend expresses aromas of black cherry, pencil shavings, cedar, and vanilla that lead into flavors of black cherry, red plum, spice, and hints of oak. Medium tannins and balanced acid.
Vintage Background
A satisfying 2020 harvest came out of our Snake River Valley vineyards. That steadiness created above-average numbers of ideal growing degree days between April and October. Weather stability allowed fruit to ripen evenly, developing concentrated flavors and favorable colors. Red varieties saw higher brix this harvest than in the past, with deep colors and intense flavors. Overall, this season will result in beautifully balanced, high-quality wines that showcase the best of our higher elevation vineyards.
Ste Chapelle Open Air Sparkling Wild Huckleberry, Idaho
Tasting Notes
Inspired by Ste. Chapelle’s iconic Soft Huckleberry wine, this wild sparkler boasts vibrant huckleberries married with the crisp sweetness of apricot and nectarine.
Specs
Varietal Blend: Chardonnay & Pinot Nair
T.A.: 7.95
pH: 3.17
Alcohol: 11.7%
Aged: 18 months
Fining: Sterile pads
Filtering: Diatomaceous earth
What’s Included
6-bottles:
2x 2021 Sawtooth Classic Fly Series Chenin Blanc, Snake River Valley, Idaho
2x 2020 Ste Chapelle Open Air Red Blend, Snake River Valley, Idaho
2x Ste Chapelle Open Air Sparkling Wild Huckleberry, Idaho Case:
4x 2021 Sawtooth Classic Fly Series Chenin Blanc, Snake River Valley, Idaho
4x 2020 Ste Chapelle Open Air Red Blend, Snake River Valley, Idaho
4x Ste Chapelle Open Air Sparkling Wild Huckleberry, Idaho
Founded in 1976, Ste Chapelle winery was named after the beautiful La Sainte Chapelle in Paris, which was built by Louis IX as the court chapel during the 13th century. The Snake River Valley’s high altitude vineyards, which enjoy long daylight hours, warm summer days, and crisp evenings, supply Ste. Chapelle with superior grapes for its award-winning wines.
The winery was founded in 1987 in Idaho’s Snake River Valley. The estate vineyards surrounding Sawtooth Winery were once rich pastures owned by Charles Pintler. The Pintlers saw a greater potential in the steep, south sloping hills, and set out to grow wine grapes. Known for Riesling, Pinot Gris, Syrah, Merlot, and Tempranillo, the winery, the Snake River Valley, and Idaho have gained increasing national acclaim with winemaker Meredith Smith leading its program. The Sawtooth label is distinctly unique, depicting the jagged Sawtooth mountains and conveying the grandeur of Idaho’s scenic wilderness and sporting. Sawtooth Winery is continually recognized for making high-quality distinctive wines of exceptional character and depth. The quality of the vineyard and winemaking is evident in every bottle of Sawtooth wine.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Idaho Wines to Celebrate Idaho Wine Month
6 bottles for $94.99 $15.83/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $164.99 $13.75/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
@karenhynes@klezman@radiolysis Well, per the Sawtooth/Ste Chapelle Regional Manager… “Our Sparkling Huckleberry wine is made méthode champenoise which starts with a base of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. It is then infused with all natural huckleberry flavors…”
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
Idaho Wines to Celebrate Idaho Wine Month - $25 = 13.15%
Hello Casemates Members
I received a bottle of Ste Chapelle Open Air Sparkling Wild Huckleberry
wine Saturday morning. Thank you, Alice.
I grew up in Seattle and am no stranger to wild huckleberries and was interested in how this Idaho grape wine would taste.
Because I am not a sparkling wine drinker, I decided to take it to a first annual lawn bowling tournament to honor and toast to the memory of a swell guy Tom, who loved his family, games and candy.
The wine was served very cold, and the comments went like this:
“It’s a pretty pink”
“It’s sort of refreshing”
“What is that taste?”
“It smells like cough syrup”
“It smells like fruity medicine”
“No thank you, one sip was enough”
“Whoa, it was way better cold”.
We had about 8 testers and half a bottle left at the end of the day.
The wine was fruity and sweet with an odd slightly bitter finish.
I did a little google search and if there is anyone interested in just this bottle of an Idaho grape/huckleberry sweet, pink bubbly novelty wine with an indistinct fruity essence, this wine can be found at Safeway and Albertsons for $11.00 bottle.
Have a good week everyone.
@kaolis My apologies everyone! Thank you @kaolis for correcting the details from my late night google search. The huckleberry wine being offered is not the same as in the supermarket.
LabRat checking in Sunday night / Monday morning June 5th/6th 2022 the year of our lord. Dear casemates, please label this review “Idaho’s answer to Opus One?!!!1!”. Clickbait sells.
Ste Chapelle Open Air 2020 Red Blend
I should note, the cork was fine in case the hue of the wine shadow in the picture makes it look otherwise.
I love the adventure of red blends. And I couldn’t get the B52’s out of my head while tasting this.
The look:
Ruby red. You can see the legs up the side of the glass. No sediment.
Bottle reads 14.3% alcohol. Breathing / Decanting was tested and is advised. More on that below.
The nose:
Light jam. All spice. light graphite. Honestly, a very slight tinge of 2 Buck Chuck Cab. Don’t kill me.
The mouth:
I do my 2 sips that I ignore.
3 sip. I get dark fruit. Underripe Blackberry. Plum. Some barrel spice that makes me think Petit Verdot was used for a lot of the body of this wine. No Charles Shaw taste here.
It starts to get a it more complex as you leave it in a decanter, but not on the heavy side. It also seems to get more complex as you drink, you start to pick out the little notes.
The after taste:
Oak on the tannins. More left bank Bordeaux style. Very light hint of white pepper. But brightens up on the finish.
The wrap up:
Very good. I wasn’t expecting much. Not Opus One like I joked about earlier, but this is a formal wear wine. I drank on an empty stomach, but if I had to ponder, I’d likely pair with a red meaty dish that’s not overly salty for dinner.
Guessing these go for over $30. I’d say the $20-$25 range would be a good price for a casemater.
The letters “open air red blend” can be rearranged to spell “diner ponderable”.
Wines from Idaho? Who knew? I suppose they probably make wines in most of the 50 states, but just like the wines they make in my home state of FL, I’ll take a pass.
@pseudogourmet98 I’ve had some Idaho wines. Some are not bad at all. The ones I didn’t prefer, are probably very good for people that want light, sweeter wines. (like perhaps the huckleberry, though it’s still not clear exactly what that is…).
Idaho is not that much further East than some of the prime Washington state regions, and ironically Walla Walla is the closest “wine town” to the Idaho border. But the climate and soil changes a lot once you get into the Idaho wine growing region, which is fairly small. I think it leads to fruit that grows in a short, hot Summer season.
I’ve also discovered Missouri has some fairly decent white wines (who would know?). I found them only when passing through and shopping at the Costco. It was a Seyval Blanc. I always try to add wines to my DeLong’s Wine Chart (I put a little sticker dot on anything that I tried that was at least 50% of that varietal).
Virginia, North and South Carolina have a few; nothing I would report on. Finger Lakes region of New York seems the most promising (we’ve seen one or two here). Haven’t been up there. I do like Rieslings, but most of what gets shipped across the country is mass-produced and sweet and icky. I bet there are good wines produced there, though. (as in this offer from Idaho, perhaps?)
@pmarin@pseudogourmet98
I recently visited the Charlottesville VA area, primary interest was Monticello - Thomas Jefferson’s estate. He was obsessed with wine growing in VA. It was a failure except for a couple of white varieties, but the momentum is strong, and still growing!
We visited only one winery - I live in NC, and “endure” occasional samples of the local fare (it’s getting better!), so naturally I brought this preconception to VA wines. Was I ever surprised!! The place was Trump winery - Eric’s venture, and does he deliver! Sparkling wines that would challenge French offerings in style and quality at half the price. An even bigger surprise were the reds - 100% estate grown, no imported juice from CA, gold and double-gold medal winners. I had a flight of 4 - every one was a winner, including a reserve Cab that was outstanding!
FWIW - the grounds and views are pretty amazing as well. Over 1000 acres, 260 of which are planted to grape, some noticeably mature vines.
I wish I had visited other wineries for comparison to see if this was a fluke, but time didn’t allow.
If you’re in that area, you gotta try it!
Future Casemate offering??
@klezman@pmarin@pseudogourmet98 Familiar with Weis in Finger Lakes? Never been myself but my brother was that way fishing and visited on a bad weather day. Pretty tasty he thought.
@Kraxberger@pmarin@pseudogourmet98
We love VA wines. Next to CA/WA/OR, those are our favorite US wines. The wineries on the Monticello wine trail in particular but we are slowly starting to expand to some other regions within the state. Agree that Trump produces some very nice sparkling wines.
Interestingly, Petit Verdot does very well as a stand-alone varietal in VA. Lots of good Meritage blends to be had, nearly every winery offers a Meritage. VA makes some killer dry Rose wines and their whites are worth mentioing as well. We had an amazing Malvasia Blanc at Gabriele Rausse, an unmarked winery with limited hours and serious credentials.
If you go to Pollack Vineyards on a Sunday in the summer, you can pull your vehicle up to the edge of the polo field and watch the matches, as they come around selling wine on golf carts. In between matches, they invite you to walk the field, fixing divots!
In the interest of keeping this thread lively, as it may be a long two days, I’ll ask another Idaho/adult beverage question; have you tried potato vodka? You may think that most vodka is made from potatoes, as it was long long ago, but today less than 5% of all vodka is made with potatoes. We’ve been drinking Blue Ice lately and I think it makes a fabulous dirty martini. YMMV.
Sawtooth 2021 Chenin Blanc Snake River Valley -Classic Fly Series-
Greetings from NYC! Apologies for the delay, there was a miscommunication with when this offer would go “live”.
First off - my disclaimer, although I’ve been ordering and sharing from Casemates, It’s been mostly simple and reliable wines. My sense of smell and taste has not fully recovered from a very mild case of COVID over a year ago. This is my first Rattage since then. Oh, and my sinuses are a bit stuffed up tonight from it being a medium high pollen count today.
The bottle arrived mid-day Saturday but I didn’t return home until after dinner tonight. It was slightly warm to the touch, and I popped the bottle in the fridge to chill. Unfortunately there will be no food pairing with this tasting, perhaps I will have an opportunity tomorrow (Sunday) but I will be hitting the road in the late morning and won’t return until early evening.
I was quite surprised to see this was from Idaho, a first for me! And the most recent vintage to boot!
On the pop and pour, the aroma was muted (see my disclaimer) white/light floral, pleasant and inviting with no discernible oak.
The legs are very visible, matching the stated alcohol content of 13.5%. The color is pale and translucent
I waited for the wine to warm up a bit, and a little not quite ripened white peach aroma emerged as I swirled the glass every few minutes.
First sip, the wine still had a bit of chill to it, there was bit of a bite to it, and alcohol was evident upfront. Mid-palate has an acidic zing to it. as it warmed up, there is a bit of fruity essence, more white melon than citrus, but I would still categorize this wine as being on the dry side. I could not really discern the typical Chenin Blanc fruit specifically but again that may be due to my affected sense of taste. This would pair well with food, perhaps even cheese at this early age. It is refreshing, acidic, and has a medium mouth feel.
I think this wine has room to grow and can take some aging to bring out some personality and then this could be enjoyed on its own.
****I did get to take another taste on Sunday, and it softened a bit, smoothing around the edges. Again, any fruit was muted (could be me), and white floral notes prevailed. I now see the Casemates pricing as well as the Winery, and it is quite a discount. I believe this may be a nice addition to your rotation, if you would like to add something a bit different than the typical Chenin Blanc to the cellar along with the other wines coupled in this offer.
Overall, I enjoyed this first impression, it brings something different to the table.
My thanks to Alice for allowing me to rat despite my limitations! Cheers!
2021 Sawtooth Classic Fly Series Chenin Blanc, Snake River Valley, Idaho
Tasting Notes
Vintage Note
Specs
2020 Ste Chapelle Open Air Red Blend, Snake River Valley, Idaho
Tasting Notes
Vintage Background
Ste Chapelle Open Air Sparkling Wild Huckleberry, Idaho
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$320.00/Case for 4x 2021 Sawtooth Classic Fly Series Chenin Blanc, Snake River Valley, Idaho at Sawtooth Estate Winery + 4x 2020 Ste Chapelle Open Air Red Blend, Snake River Valley, Idaho & 4x Ste Chapelle Open Air Sparkling Wild Huckleberry, Idaho at Ste Chapelle Winery
About The Winery
Ste Chapelle Winery
Sawtooth Estate Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, ND, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Jun 27 - Wednesday, Jun 29
Idaho Wines to Celebrate Idaho Wine Month
6 bottles for $94.99 $15.83/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $164.99 $13.75/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
2021 Sawtooth Classic Fly Series Chenin Blanc
2020 Ste Chapelle Open Air Red Blend
NV Ste Chapelle Open Air Sparkling
How can you call it sparkling wild huckleberry if it’s made from grapes??
@klezman yeah I’m trying to understand the composition myself. Does it have huckleberry? Or just taste like huckleberry?
@klezman @radiolysis
Perhaps the “Pinot Nair” is a new huckleberry variety?
@karenhynes @klezman @radiolysis
At least it’s not Pinot Mor!
@klezman
@karenhynes well, you can use it for other things
@karenhynes @klezman @radiolysis That Pinot nair stuff is getting popular around here
@karenhynes @klezman @radiolysis Well, per the Sawtooth/Ste Chapelle Regional Manager… “Our Sparkling Huckleberry wine is made méthode champenoise which starts with a base of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. It is then infused with all natural huckleberry flavors…”
@kaolis @karenhynes @klezman @radiolysis
The rain have you so bored you called…?
@karenhynes @klezman @radiolysis @rjquillin …emailed…yeah it was raining pretty hard all day…
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: Tax & Shipping not included in savings calculations).
Idaho Wines to Celebrate Idaho Wine Month - $25 = 13.15%
Hello Casemates Members
I received a bottle of
Ste Chapelle Open Air Sparkling Wild Huckleberry
wine Saturday morning. Thank you, Alice.
I grew up in Seattle and am no stranger to wild huckleberries and was interested in how this Idaho grape wine would taste.
Because I am not a sparkling wine drinker, I decided to take it to a first annual lawn bowling tournament to honor and toast to the memory of a swell guy Tom, who loved his family, games and candy.
The wine was served very cold, and the comments went like this:
“It’s a pretty pink”
“It’s sort of refreshing”
“What is that taste?”
“It smells like cough syrup”
“It smells like fruity medicine”
“No thank you, one sip was enough”
“Whoa, it was way better cold”.
We had about 8 testers and half a bottle left at the end of the day.
The wine was fruity and sweet with an odd slightly bitter finish.
I did a little google search and if there is anyone interested in just this bottle of an Idaho grape/huckleberry sweet, pink bubbly novelty wine with an indistinct fruity essence, this wine can be found at Safeway and Albertsons for $11.00 bottle.
Have a good week everyone.
@Jeanhp3 thanks for the report along with all the extra tasters.
@Jeanhp3 I believe the wine you are seeing at Albertsons is a still wine that’s called Soft Huckleberry, not this sparkling wine.
@kaolis My apologies everyone! Thank you @kaolis for correcting the details from my late night google search. The huckleberry wine being offered is not the same as in the supermarket.
LabRat checking in Sunday night / Monday morning June 5th/6th 2022 the year of our lord. Dear casemates, please label this review “Idaho’s answer to Opus One?!!!1!”. Clickbait sells.
Ste Chapelle Open Air 2020 Red Blend
I should note, the cork was fine in case the hue of the wine shadow in the picture makes it look otherwise.
I love the adventure of red blends. And I couldn’t get the B52’s out of my head while tasting this.
The look:
Ruby red. You can see the legs up the side of the glass. No sediment.
Bottle reads 14.3% alcohol. Breathing / Decanting was tested and is advised. More on that below.
The nose:
Light jam. All spice. light graphite. Honestly, a very slight tinge of 2 Buck Chuck Cab. Don’t kill me.
The mouth:
I do my 2 sips that I ignore.
3 sip. I get dark fruit. Underripe Blackberry. Plum. Some barrel spice that makes me think Petit Verdot was used for a lot of the body of this wine. No Charles Shaw taste here.
It starts to get a it more complex as you leave it in a decanter, but not on the heavy side. It also seems to get more complex as you drink, you start to pick out the little notes.
The after taste:
Oak on the tannins. More left bank Bordeaux style. Very light hint of white pepper. But brightens up on the finish.
The wrap up:
Very good. I wasn’t expecting much. Not Opus One like I joked about earlier, but this is a formal wear wine. I drank on an empty stomach, but if I had to ponder, I’d likely pair with a red meaty dish that’s not overly salty for dinner.
Guessing these go for over $30. I’d say the $20-$25 range would be a good price for a casemater.
The letters “open air red blend” can be rearranged to spell “diner ponderable”.
@ecue Thanks for the fun review. The pups look very interested.
@ecue @WCCWineGirl extra credit for both the letter rearrangement and the reference to your Own Private Idaho.
/image private idaho
@ecue @pmarin @WCCWineGirl GET OUT OF THAT STATE! GET OUT OF THAT STATE YOU’RE IN!
Wines from Idaho? Who knew? I suppose they probably make wines in most of the 50 states, but just like the wines they make in my home state of FL, I’ll take a pass.
@pseudogourmet98 I’ve had some Idaho wines. Some are not bad at all. The ones I didn’t prefer, are probably very good for people that want light, sweeter wines. (like perhaps the huckleberry, though it’s still not clear exactly what that is…).
Idaho is not that much further East than some of the prime Washington state regions, and ironically Walla Walla is the closest “wine town” to the Idaho border. But the climate and soil changes a lot once you get into the Idaho wine growing region, which is fairly small. I think it leads to fruit that grows in a short, hot Summer season.
I’ve also discovered Missouri has some fairly decent white wines (who would know?). I found them only when passing through and shopping at the Costco. It was a Seyval Blanc. I always try to add wines to my DeLong’s Wine Chart (I put a little sticker dot on anything that I tried that was at least 50% of that varietal).
Virginia, North and South Carolina have a few; nothing I would report on. Finger Lakes region of New York seems the most promising (we’ve seen one or two here). Haven’t been up there. I do like Rieslings, but most of what gets shipped across the country is mass-produced and sweet and icky. I bet there are good wines produced there, though. (as in this offer from Idaho, perhaps?)
@pmarin @pseudogourmet98 lots of great riesling from the finger lakes. Red Newt is a good choice. Their cab franc rose is great, too.
@pmarin @pseudogourmet98 you left out NW Michigan
@pmarin @pseudogourmet98 Hello! Welcome to the 45th parallel. Traverse Bay to Leeland, 13 wineries I can think of. Lots more than just cherries, ok.
@pmarin @pseudogourmet98
I recently visited the Charlottesville VA area, primary interest was Monticello - Thomas Jefferson’s estate. He was obsessed with wine growing in VA. It was a failure except for a couple of white varieties, but the momentum is strong, and still growing!
We visited only one winery - I live in NC, and “endure” occasional samples of the local fare (it’s getting better!), so naturally I brought this preconception to VA wines. Was I ever surprised!! The place was Trump winery - Eric’s venture, and does he deliver! Sparkling wines that would challenge French offerings in style and quality at half the price. An even bigger surprise were the reds - 100% estate grown, no imported juice from CA, gold and double-gold medal winners. I had a flight of 4 - every one was a winner, including a reserve Cab that was outstanding!
FWIW - the grounds and views are pretty amazing as well. Over 1000 acres, 260 of which are planted to grape, some noticeably mature vines.
I wish I had visited other wineries for comparison to see if this was a fluke, but time didn’t allow.
If you’re in that area, you gotta try it!
Future Casemate offering??
@klezman @pmarin @pseudogourmet98 Familiar with Weis in Finger Lakes? Never been myself but my brother was that way fishing and visited on a bad weather day. Pretty tasty he thought.
@Kraxberger @pmarin @pseudogourmet98
We love VA wines. Next to CA/WA/OR, those are our favorite US wines. The wineries on the Monticello wine trail in particular but we are slowly starting to expand to some other regions within the state. Agree that Trump produces some very nice sparkling wines.
Interestingly, Petit Verdot does very well as a stand-alone varietal in VA. Lots of good Meritage blends to be had, nearly every winery offers a Meritage. VA makes some killer dry Rose wines and their whites are worth mentioing as well. We had an amazing Malvasia Blanc at Gabriele Rausse, an unmarked winery with limited hours and serious credentials.
If you go to Pollack Vineyards on a Sunday in the summer, you can pull your vehicle up to the edge of the polo field and watch the matches, as they come around selling wine on golf carts. In between matches, they invite you to walk the field, fixing divots!
In the interest of keeping this thread lively, as it may be a long two days, I’ll ask another Idaho/adult beverage question; have you tried potato vodka? You may think that most vodka is made from potatoes, as it was long long ago, but today less than 5% of all vodka is made with potatoes. We’ve been drinking Blue Ice lately and I think it makes a fabulous dirty martini. YMMV.
@pseudogourmet98 For the longest time I thought Goose was made from potato vodka but I just googled and I was wrong all along!
I love this concept of a themed mixed offering!
It is Ste Chapelle, not Ste Chappelle… fwiw ha!
@kaolis No idea what you’re on about. I’m only seeing Chapelle.
@ExtraMedium Well…not to be picky, but mayhaps you should take another look at the CellarTracker links…
@ExtraMedium @kaolis Just got those two as well…
@ExtraMedium @rjquillin Rainy day here, nothing else to do right?
@ExtraMedium @kaolis @rjquillin also not Dave…
/image dave chappelle
Sawtooth 2021 Chenin Blanc Snake River Valley -Classic Fly Series-
Greetings from NYC! Apologies for the delay, there was a miscommunication with when this offer would go “live”.
First off - my disclaimer, although I’ve been ordering and sharing from Casemates, It’s been mostly simple and reliable wines. My sense of smell and taste has not fully recovered from a very mild case of COVID over a year ago. This is my first Rattage since then. Oh, and my sinuses are a bit stuffed up tonight from it being a medium high pollen count today.
The bottle arrived mid-day Saturday but I didn’t return home until after dinner tonight. It was slightly warm to the touch, and I popped the bottle in the fridge to chill. Unfortunately there will be no food pairing with this tasting, perhaps I will have an opportunity tomorrow (Sunday) but I will be hitting the road in the late morning and won’t return until early evening.
I was quite surprised to see this was from Idaho, a first for me! And the most recent vintage to boot!
On the pop and pour, the aroma was muted (see my disclaimer) white/light floral, pleasant and inviting with no discernible oak.
The legs are very visible, matching the stated alcohol content of 13.5%. The color is pale and translucent
I waited for the wine to warm up a bit, and a little not quite ripened white peach aroma emerged as I swirled the glass every few minutes.
First sip, the wine still had a bit of chill to it, there was bit of a bite to it, and alcohol was evident upfront. Mid-palate has an acidic zing to it. as it warmed up, there is a bit of fruity essence, more white melon than citrus, but I would still categorize this wine as being on the dry side. I could not really discern the typical Chenin Blanc fruit specifically but again that may be due to my affected sense of taste. This would pair well with food, perhaps even cheese at this early age. It is refreshing, acidic, and has a medium mouth feel.
I think this wine has room to grow and can take some aging to bring out some personality and then this could be enjoyed on its own.
****I did get to take another taste on Sunday, and it softened a bit, smoothing around the edges. Again, any fruit was muted (could be me), and white floral notes prevailed. I now see the Casemates pricing as well as the Winery, and it is quite a discount. I believe this may be a nice addition to your rotation, if you would like to add something a bit different than the typical Chenin Blanc to the cellar along with the other wines coupled in this offer.
Overall, I enjoyed this first impression, it brings something different to the table.
My thanks to Alice for allowing me to rat despite my limitations! Cheers!