Like a lot of consumers that grew up in the East Coast in the seventies, "California" wine referred to wine made by a handful of wines we saw in liquor stores and wine shops. At the time they were mostly boutique-sized entities but now these are the names we think of as the established corporate ventures with big-time output: Beringer, Mondavi, Heitz, Clos du Bois, Clos du Val, Freemark Abbey, and of course, Chateau St. Jean. I grew up listening to lots of table-talk about wine between my Dad and his friends and the one name that was synonymous with quality California was Dick Arrowwood, the first winemaker of Chateau St. Jean. Both the Cabernets and Chardonnays were splurge treats when I came of legal drinking age (18 at the time). As I recall, in those days, the Chardonnays were around $15 and Cabernets were around $20, which at the time (late seventies) were premium prices for any California wine. But I knew that Dick Arrowwood's wines were worth it --because I had heard it lots of times at home. I wasn't reading wine books when I was 18.
Fast forward to when I arrived in San Francisco ten years later with my then fiancée (in 1988). I was a full-time musician at the time and had still had groups and shows in NYC that I flew back for and tours to go on, so I had no steady income when I arrived. We had a studio apartment in Pacific Heights for $325 a month that was tiny but an amazing introduction to living in San Francisco. I put myself through music school in NY by working in gourmet stores, so I was used to eating and drinking well. Though we were living on one steady income, I spent my first few months scouring shops like The Real Food Co., Kermit Lynch, and my thrilling discovery, Cost Plus (!) looking for food and wine bargains. I found so many and added to the excitement of living in the Bay Area.
Back then, we also had Liquor Barn. I had never seen such a thing! Thousands of different wines were available at sometimes unreal prices. And the first time I shopped there I found it...Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay at $2.88. My family's spluge Chardonnay was less than three bucks out here. "I'm gonna like it here" I said to myself. (And I still like it after more than 20 years.) I stuck to a budget for wine for the next year, and for $5 a bottle or under, we drank pretty darned well.
For my WBW selection, I hit the modern-day California equivalent to Liquor Barn, BevMo and picked out one of the mid-range Chardonnays from St. Jean. Margo Van Staaveren has long been the winemaker and during her time she's seen the output grow tremendously and has tried to keep a tight rein on quailty. I found the 2006 Chateau St. Jean Belle Terre Vineyard Chardonnay for just under $20 which is significant in itself. The 20-ish range of California Chardonnay is somewhere between the bag-of-oak-chips in the 50,000 gallon tank wine and the real boutique Chardonnays that now start closer to $40. It is a tough market and it takes a lot to stand out in it.
I've outgrown the desire for the amount of oak in this wine, but it's still an excellent value if you're looking for a Chardonnay that shows very well upon release. It has a good sense of place, with enough minerality to balance the big phat fruit. The acid balance cheats towards easy drinking when it's young and it will probably not transform itself into something more impressive years down the line. It's made to drink now, just proceed with caution when you try to pair it with that delicate poached sole. It will snuff it. We served it with breaded chicken breasts that were baked with lots of parmagiano, garlic and herbs and I thought it was a good foil to a flavorful dish.
Thanks a lot to Jeff at Good Grape for hosting this month! And if you've read this far, thanks for indulging in a little of my nostalgia.
Its great to know where you are coming from - I can just imagine a little boy with big ears hanging onto every word...
Wines happened to me much later in my life, and on my own accord. I am quite jealous that it is in your blood, so to speak..
Posted by: Kelly | May 17, 2009 at 03:37 AM