This barrel-fermented, full malo-lactic Chardonnay has a shiny golden tone and expresses beautiful lemon verbena and tangerine zest top notes followed by rich Tahitian vanilla and creamy custard notes.
On the palate the wine explodes with generous tropical flavors from mango to passionfruit and then wrapped up in creamy custard flavors. The acidity shines through the creamy texture and demonstrating the optimal acidity that cool-climate Monterey grapes possess. The finish is long with silky vanillin, clove, guava, and papaya and finishes with baked banana custard flavors. The finish is long with a silky elegance and lingering acidity.
This wine was made from grapes grown at the Arroyo Loma Vineyard in King City within Monterey by famed Central Coast grower Steve McIntyre. The vineyard is sustainable and farmed organically, but not certified. The grapes were picked cool at night, whole cluster pressed, and barrel fermented on the natural lees and put through 100% malo-lactic. It was aged in barrel and stirred over 9 months.
This wine goes perfectly with Lobster tail and drawn butter and a petite filet (if you must) with tarragon compound butter. It goes well with almost every fish or seafood. My favorite is with line caught Sea Bass steamed in green tea leaf and served with a salty soy broth with sautéed wild mushrooms. Finally, this wine makes a crowd-pleasing aperitif wine for guests at the start of a party.
Owners: Richard Bruno (Vinum), Chris Condos & Suzanne Hagins (Horse & Plow)
Founded: 1997
Location: Napa, CA
Vinum Cellars was founded in 1997 by first generation, California family winemakers Richard Bruno and Chris Condos in Napa Valley financing their dream on credit cards. Their focus was then, and remains searching California’s coastal vineyards and special microclimates in search of the best vineyards grown by the state’s best growers. The long-term partners consider their humble roots in the development of products and mandate that each wine offer considerable high quality-to-price ratio. What this means is each wine is literally hand-crafted from single vineyards and made with a small lot philosophy. From Coastal Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Vinum makes varietal wines from single vineyards and appellations throughout California.
An environmentally conscious winery, Vinum Cellars works only with sustainable growers to create Eco-Friendly products. The packaging choices are made specifically to minimize their carbon footprint. Some of those features are: Domestically produced lightweight, Eco-Series glass; labels and cartons using only non-toxic, water-based inks, and each of these suppliers recycles 100% of the waste created by manufacturing our packaging.
Our basic winemaking philosophy is to work with great grape growers to develop the best fruit in the vineyard. We pick the grapes at optimal ripeness and gently process the fruit. We are very experimental with yeast strains and use different cultures for each variety.
Our whites are barrel fermented slowly and aged Sur Lies in small French Oak barrels. With our reds, skin contact is optimized by the use of small open-top fermentors, hand punch downs, and extended maceration before pressing.
Our belief in the use of older French Oak barrels allows the varietal fruit of our wines to be expressed. We are committed to experimenting and learning new winemaking methods while preserving an old world approach.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY
We were so thankful to receive this holiday, Lab Rat. The bottle of Vinum Cellars Chardonnay arrived on Monday afternoon. We put the wine in the cooler until dinner, and I decided that I would make scallops, clams, and linguini to pair with this chardonnay. It had a beautiful color and the nose was crisp apple and pear. The first sip was buttery and the apple and pear showed up in the taste as well. I had to force myself to put the cork in the bottle, or I would not have any to pair with dinner. We decided to taste the wine again before dinner, and some vanilla tones came out. It paired perfectly with the lemon sauce of the scallops and clams. This is a great-tasting wine and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a buttery chardonnay!
It was a wonderful surprise getting an email last week from Alice asking us to review a wine. A Thanksgiving miracle, you might say!
We received the bottle Monday afternoon, already perfectly chilled due to the freezing weather we’ve been having lately. Ordinarily we would have popped it right away, but we were having guests over for a dumpling-making party on Tuesday, so we reluctantly put the bottle into the wine fridge and patiently waited.
Tuesday rolled around, friends were over, dumplings were made, kids were watching the World Cup—time to taste! Immediately out of the bottle, the color was a clear straw, with some oak and butter coming through on the nose but not much else. At 54 degrees it was probably a tad cold, and when warmed up a tad we could find some honeysuckle and apple in there. Taste-wise, again after warming up a bit, the oakiness was less prominent, giving way to sweet tropical fruit flavors (more on that later).
What was most notable, though, was a feeling of “roundness” in the mouth, akin to how an exceptionally smooth sherried whisky feels when it goes down. This is probably because of the noticeably lower acidity of the wine, and both my wife and I independently thought we could have mistaken it for a mid-dry Riesling. This is not a “sweet” wine per se, but the texture and feel in the mouth definitely accentuated the sugars.
Pairing with traditional pork and chive dumplings was remarkably effective, as was pairing with slices of jamón serrano. Unlike the usual way in which wine cuts through food, though, this wine seemed more to add flavors, particularly tropical fruit ones, something like how one adds a fruit compote to fine cheeses. The wine even continued to shine when I dumped a large quantity of chili oil into my dipping sauce (by accident), suggesting to me that this wine potentially works with a wide range of foods.
As per usual, the kids took a sniff:
9-year-old: Pineapples, bananas, “yellow”
9-year-old’s friend: Pineapples
5-year-old: Pineapples, [then told to come up with a new idea] yellow apples
There may have been a little copycatting going on, but looking now at the winery’s tasting notes, they hit the nail on the head better than the adults.
What to make of this wine? It’s certainly not the Iron Horse chards that we’ve been spoiled with recently (thanks Casemates!), and it was more oaky than we would have preferred personally. But that’s just us, and given how well it paired with seemingly unrelated foods, I could easily see this bottle on the table of a holiday feast or family dinner. As always, thank you to @WineDavid and Alice for giving us the opportunity to labrat, and wishing everyone a restful and Happy Thanksgiving!!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations).
2019 Vinum Cellars Chardonnay - $20 = 13.33%
2019 Vinum Cellars Chardonnay, Monterey
Tasting Notes
Specs
What’s Included
6-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$264.00/Case for 12x 2019 Vinum Cellars Chardonnay, Monterey at Vinum Cellars
Not for sale online, $540/case MSRP
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Dec 12 - Thursday, Dec 15
2019 Vinum Cellars Chardonnay
6 bottles for $74.99 $12.50/bottle + $1.33/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $129.99 $10.83/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Anyone else recall the 2011 Vinum Cellars White Elephant?
Still one left!
@rjquillin someone may have received one in their mystery pack?!!
@kitkat34 That would be an amazing ww relic showing up
We were so thankful to receive this holiday, Lab Rat. The bottle of Vinum Cellars Chardonnay arrived on Monday afternoon. We put the wine in the cooler until dinner, and I decided that I would make scallops, clams, and linguini to pair with this chardonnay. It had a beautiful color and the nose was crisp apple and pear. The first sip was buttery and the apple and pear showed up in the taste as well. I had to force myself to put the cork in the bottle, or I would not have any to pair with dinner. We decided to taste the wine again before dinner, and some vanilla tones came out. It paired perfectly with the lemon sauce of the scallops and clams. This is a great-tasting wine and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a buttery chardonnay!
2019 Vinum Cellars Chardonnay, Monterey
It was a wonderful surprise getting an email last week from Alice asking us to review a wine. A Thanksgiving miracle, you might say!
We received the bottle Monday afternoon, already perfectly chilled due to the freezing weather we’ve been having lately. Ordinarily we would have popped it right away, but we were having guests over for a dumpling-making party on Tuesday, so we reluctantly put the bottle into the wine fridge and patiently waited.
Tuesday rolled around, friends were over, dumplings were made, kids were watching the World Cup—time to taste! Immediately out of the bottle, the color was a clear straw, with some oak and butter coming through on the nose but not much else. At 54 degrees it was probably a tad cold, and when warmed up a tad we could find some honeysuckle and apple in there. Taste-wise, again after warming up a bit, the oakiness was less prominent, giving way to sweet tropical fruit flavors (more on that later).
What was most notable, though, was a feeling of “roundness” in the mouth, akin to how an exceptionally smooth sherried whisky feels when it goes down. This is probably because of the noticeably lower acidity of the wine, and both my wife and I independently thought we could have mistaken it for a mid-dry Riesling. This is not a “sweet” wine per se, but the texture and feel in the mouth definitely accentuated the sugars.
Pairing with traditional pork and chive dumplings was remarkably effective, as was pairing with slices of jamón serrano. Unlike the usual way in which wine cuts through food, though, this wine seemed more to add flavors, particularly tropical fruit ones, something like how one adds a fruit compote to fine cheeses. The wine even continued to shine when I dumped a large quantity of chili oil into my dipping sauce (by accident), suggesting to me that this wine potentially works with a wide range of foods.
As per usual, the kids took a sniff:
There may have been a little copycatting going on, but looking now at the winery’s tasting notes, they hit the nail on the head better than the adults.
What to make of this wine? It’s certainly not the Iron Horse chards that we’ve been spoiled with recently (thanks Casemates!), and it was more oaky than we would have preferred personally. But that’s just us, and given how well it paired with seemingly unrelated foods, I could easily see this bottle on the table of a holiday feast or family dinner. As always, thank you to @WineDavid and Alice for giving us the opportunity to labrat, and wishing everyone a restful and Happy Thanksgiving!!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations).
2019 Vinum Cellars Chardonnay - $20 = 13.33%
/giphy dizzy-ditsy-octopus
@CruelMelody
I cannot stop watching this!
@CruelMelody
Is that the Breakfast Octopus? Emerging from the Mediocrelab flask?
/giphy fiery-upstanding-pocket
/giphy mistaken-emerald-whale
