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Default TN Chalone Vineyard Pinot Blanc Estate, 1992 & Montelle Peach Eau DeVie

The Chalone Vineyard Pinot Blanc Estate, 1992 was stored properly by
me since release. It had a high fill and no cork issues. The color is
very light lemon. Chalone often has made remarkable Pinot Blanc that
will take age, and this is no exception. It still is very fresh with
not a hint of oxidation. It has a cool feel even though at 13% alcohol
by volume, it is no light weight. There is more mineral character and
less tutti-frutti character than most California Chardonnays have.
This makes it a better food wine than Chardonnay for many dishes. The
bouquet is subtle, but complex, and reminds one somewhat of beeswax
and a complex mixture of sweet herbs with a trace of something floral
and very aromatic. There is plenty of clean and smooth acidity. I rank
it higher than many California Chardonnays costing more.

I have been collecting eau de vie for about a year. Once you get past
Kirsch, Framboise, and Poire (with or without a pear grown in the
bottle), it becomes very difficult to find many other examples in the
US. I have not located several in the US and finally have located
several of the French examples in the UK and Spain. A peach eau de vie
is listed by a few French distillers, but the only available source I
found was in Germany, and you would have to pay by a money transfer to
their bank. Recently a little very high quality Rowanberry, apricot,
and pear from Hans Reisetbauer of Austria has become available in a
very few locations in the US. It is quite expensive.

There are now a few small distilleries in the US that make true eau de
vie. Westford Hill in the East makes very good Kirsch, Framboise, and
Fraise, but it is rather expensive and seldom is seen outside of the
state in which it is made. A few on the US West coast make eau de vie
from time to time. For instance Clear Creek makes Mirabelle plum eau
de vie. Recently Missouri has changed laws so that it is now fairly
easy for a winery there to distill brandy. There is a very old wine
district on the Missouri river near St. Louis. Montelle Winery is in
this region and has started making 4 eau de vies. I know nothing about
their wines which are mainly hybrids and fruit wines, likely because
of the climate. However they make a peach eau de vie as well as ones
from golden delicious apple, sour cherry, and a Grappa. I was able to
locate 1/2 bottles of each. They do have a web site.

The Montelle peach eau de vie is the usual high strength. It is
perfectly clean and completely dry as a true eau de vie should be. It
takes about 8 pounds of peaches to make a small half bottle of 350 ml.
As for most eau de vie, this should be served near freezing in pre-
chilled small glasses and taken in small sips. Otherwise the vodka-
strength alcohol is overbearing. The bouquet is clean with some peach
skin smell as well as perhaps a hint of the pit. The taste is clean
with no burned taste that can result if spots of the still become
overheated. I don't know what kind of still they use, but many in
Europe use a special German still with a water jacket to prevent
overheating and burned tastes. I consider this Peach eau de vie to be
of high quality, but I would have to compare it with others to say how
high.
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Default TN Chalone Vineyard Pinot Blanc Estate, 1992 & Montelle Peach Eau De Vie

In article
>,
cwdjrxyz > wrote:

> The Chalone Vineyard Pinot Blanc Estate, 1992 was stored properly by
> me since release. It had a high fill and no cork issues. The color is
> very light lemon. Chalone often has made remarkable Pinot Blanc that
> will take age, and this is no exception. It still is very fresh with
> not a hint of oxidation. It has a cool feel even though at 13% alcohol
> by volume, it is no light weight. There is more mineral character and
> less tutti-frutti character than most California Chardonnays have.
> This makes it a better food wine than Chardonnay for many dishes. The
> bouquet is subtle, but complex, and reminds one somewhat of beeswax
> and a complex mixture of sweet herbs with a trace of something floral
> and very aromatic. There is plenty of clean and smooth acidity. I rank
> it higher than many California Chardonnays costing more.
>
> The Montelle peach eau de vie is the usual high strength. It is
> perfectly clean and completely dry as a true eau de vie should be. It
> takes about 8 pounds of peaches to make a small half bottle of 350 ml.
> As for most eau de vie, this should be served near freezing in pre-
> chilled small glasses and taken in small sips. Otherwise the vodka-
> strength alcohol is overbearing. The bouquet is clean with some peach
> skin smell as well as perhaps a hint of the pit. The taste is clean
> with no burned taste that can result if spots of the still become
> overheated. I don't know what kind of still they use, but many in
> Europe use a special German still with a water jacket to prevent
> overheating and burned tastes. I consider this Peach eau de vie to be
> of high quality, but I would have to compare it with others to say how
> high.


This seems to be about all that Chalone is making lately that I still
enjoy. Their wines have become quite pedestrian grocery store fare.
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Default TN Chalone Vineyard Pinot Blanc Estate, 1992 & Montelle Peach EauDe Vie

On Jul 28, 10:29*am, Lawrence Leichtman > wrote:
> In article
> >,
>
>
>
> *cwdjrxyz > wrote:
> > The Chalone Vineyard Pinot Blanc Estate, 1992 was stored properly by
> > me since release. It had a high fill and no cork issues. The color is
> > very light lemon. Chalone often has made remarkable Pinot Blanc that
> > will take age, and this is no exception. It still is very fresh with
> > not a hint of oxidation. It has a cool feel even though at 13% alcohol
> > by volume, it is no light weight. There is more mineral character and
> > less tutti-frutti character than most California Chardonnays have.
> > This makes it a better food wine than Chardonnay for many dishes. The
> > bouquet is subtle, but complex, and reminds one somewhat of beeswax
> > and a complex mixture of sweet herbs with a trace of something floral
> > and very aromatic. There is plenty of clean and smooth acidity. I rank
> > it higher than many California Chardonnays costing more.

>
> > The Montelle peach eau de vie is the usual high strength. It is
> > perfectly clean and completely dry as a true eau de vie should be. It
> > takes about 8 pounds of peaches to make a small half bottle of 350 ml.
> > As for most eau de vie, this should be served near freezing in pre-
> > chilled small glasses and taken in small sips. Otherwise the vodka-
> > strength alcohol is overbearing. The bouquet is clean with some peach
> > skin smell as well as perhaps a hint of the pit. The taste is clean
> > with no burned taste that can result if spots of the still become
> > overheated. I don't know what kind of still they use, but many in
> > Europe use a special German still with a water jacket to prevent
> > overheating and burned tastes. I consider this Peach eau de vie to be
> > of high quality, but I would have to compare it with others to say how
> > high.

>
> This seems to be about all that Chalone is making lately that I still
> enjoy. Their wines have become quite pedestrian grocery store fare.


Thanks for the report on recent Chalone wines. I have heard that the
quality of their wine has changed since the 90s. That is a pity,
because the old estate wines came from a microclimate well suited for
Burgundy type grapes. I have not bought any of their wines since the
mid 90s, so I have no direct experence with recent ones.
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Default TN Chalone Vineyard Pinot Blanc Estate, 1992 & Montelle Peach Eau De Vie

In article
>,
cwdjrxyz > wrote:

> On Jul 28, 10:29*am, Lawrence Leichtman > wrote:
> > In article
> > >,
> >
> >
> >
> > *cwdjrxyz > wrote:
> > > The Chalone Vineyard Pinot Blanc Estate, 1992 was stored properly by
> > > me since release. It had a high fill and no cork issues. The color is
> > > very light lemon. Chalone often has made remarkable Pinot Blanc that
> > > will take age, and this is no exception. It still is very fresh with
> > > not a hint of oxidation. It has a cool feel even though at 13% alcohol
> > > by volume, it is no light weight. There is more mineral character and
> > > less tutti-frutti character than most California Chardonnays have.
> > > This makes it a better food wine than Chardonnay for many dishes. The
> > > bouquet is subtle, but complex, and reminds one somewhat of beeswax
> > > and a complex mixture of sweet herbs with a trace of something floral
> > > and very aromatic. There is plenty of clean and smooth acidity. I rank
> > > it higher than many California Chardonnays costing more.

> >
> > > The Montelle peach eau de vie is the usual high strength. It is
> > > perfectly clean and completely dry as a true eau de vie should be. It
> > > takes about 8 pounds of peaches to make a small half bottle of 350 ml.
> > > As for most eau de vie, this should be served near freezing in pre-
> > > chilled small glasses and taken in small sips. Otherwise the vodka-
> > > strength alcohol is overbearing. The bouquet is clean with some peach
> > > skin smell as well as perhaps a hint of the pit. The taste is clean
> > > with no burned taste that can result if spots of the still become
> > > overheated. I don't know what kind of still they use, but many in
> > > Europe use a special German still with a water jacket to prevent
> > > overheating and burned tastes. I consider this Peach eau de vie to be
> > > of high quality, but I would have to compare it with others to say how
> > > high.

> >
> > This seems to be about all that Chalone is making lately that I still
> > enjoy. Their wines have become quite pedestrian grocery store fare.

>
> Thanks for the report on recent Chalone wines. I have heard that the
> quality of their wine has changed since the 90s. That is a pity,
> because the old estate wines came from a microclimate well suited for
> Burgundy type grapes. I have not bought any of their wines since the
> mid 90s, so I have no direct experence with recent ones.


They were bought out about 4 years ago and the quality went down quite a
bit.
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