2017 00 Wines "EGW" Willamette Valley Chardonnay

The 2017 EGW cuvée (Extra Good White) from Chris Hermann is produced from some of the best casks of chardonnay from the Hyland, Anahata, Bunker Hill and Chehelam Mountain Vineyards. The wine is again raised in twenty percent new oak for a year and then given five months finishing time on its fine lees in tank. Again, there is a slightly reductive aspect to the wine that recalls young Coche-Dury, but which opens up to reveal scents of apple, passion fruit, hazelnut, butter, a touch of iodine, spring flowers, complex soil tones and a deft foundation of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is precise, full-bodied and shows enormous backend energy and lift, with a fine core of fruit, excellent mineral undertow, bright acids and a long, complex and utterly complete finish. This is an excellent wine, with the broader shoulders of a wine like Meursault “Poruzots”, with excellent breed and backend precision. This really should be tucked away for a handful of years in the cellar and let it start to unfurl some of its secondary layers of complexity! (JG)

Limpid straw-gold. Vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented aromas of peach nectar, Anjou pear and Meyer lemon carry a bright floral overtone. Juicy and densely packed, displaying a suave interplay of richness and vivacity to the citrus and orchard fruit, honeysuckle, buttered toast and saffron flavors. Picks up smoky lees and vanilla nuances with air and shows excellent clarity and solid thrust on a strikingly long, penetrating finish that echoes the mineral note and betrays no rough edges. (JR)