Oak Grove Chardonnay

Oak Grove Chardonnay
2007 Reserve
California
about $8

Oak Grove Chardonnay is a good choice to have on hand for whenever you need a white table wine. The diversity of flavor will match the majority of dishes. It's not going to knock your socks off but it will suit most needs admirably.

The first flavor I noticed was surprisingly sweet - like toasted marshmallows - followed by flavors of grapefruit and apricot. As a sipping wine it's a little too confused for my enjoyment but the odd combination allowed the wine to match wonderfully with dinner (broiled catfish with a mustard & basil sauce, cucumber tomato salad, sauteed kale.)

For the geekier among you: Wine Spectator recently did a report on California Chardonnay (as they do every year.) Some of the appellations received excellent reviews almost across the board so I did a little digging to see where this wine came from. According to Oak Grove's website the grapes are sourced from California's "cool appellations." I'm not quite sure what they mean by that; it sounds like they're hiding something. I didn't really expect much pedigree from this producer but it would have been fun to use some of that knowledge for the post. I guess I'll just have to keep drinking.