According to the back label, this wine was specially bottled for Trader Joes. For this price, neither of us expected much, especially from a California chardonnay.
When we first sniffed, Brigette says that it smelled like pineapple gummy bears. It turns out that she likes pineapple gummy bears, so this comment is kind of good, maybe. It was the good, German, imported pineapple gummy bears, she said. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to taste the wine. I thought that the wine did not smell as fruity and crisp as I expected, being a cheap chard. It did smell chardy. We both raised our eyebrows when we tasted, because, still, it was not what we expected. This very cheap chard had gone through malolactic fermentation. There was little acidity, but decent fruit. There was flavor and a little complexity. It had a long finish with a little pineapple.
We had a pork roast, cooked with vegetables on the stove. The dish included turnips, peeled white acorn squash, leeks cut thinly, a spoonful of sufrito, olive oil, sea salt, and a cup of our wine. It was a very balanced dish, with no dominate flavor, but each one was there if you went for it. The leeks were very subtle and had absorbed the wine and sofrito flavors.
I am sorry that this has become a sort of theme of my writings, but this pork roast was again almost flavorless. It had no marbling. So the poor pig was bred that way. Bred to be lean and tasteless.
The wine went well with the dinner. Of course, it picked up well with its own flavoring, especially in the leeks. But with each of the bigger vegetables it added. With the squash the wine cut its acidity and was creamy and flavorful. With the turnip the wine was sharper. The pork made the wine taste sweeter.
On the whole, we were impressed that a $5 wine could deliver as this wine has. If I want a very cheap chard that is not acidic, I would vote for this one.
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1 comment:
Its taste is best paired with fish and chicken dishes.
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Paris Wine Tastings
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