Talbott Logan Chardonnay 2012

I went to the Talbott tasting room when we went wine tasting in Carmel Valley earlier this year. It had a huge 3-sided bar in the middle of the room, with antique cars and motorcycles along the walls. It was a beautiful day outside, so we spent the tasting out on the ample patio, only venturing back in for the next taste on the list. Talbott really only makes two varietals - Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We didn't buy anything that day at the tasting room, mostly because you can find their lower end wines at stores pretty easily, and their higher end wines, while delicious, are pricy.

The Logan Chardonnay is sort of the mid-range. It's not as inexpensive as the lowest end, the Kali Hart, but at $20 at Bay Area grocery stores, it's still very reasonable. The higher end, Sleepy Hollow, is usually around $35, and there are some that are even higher than that. At the tasting room, where we got to compare them all side by side, I thought the Logan was by far the best bang for the buck.  It pours a lovely light golden color. The nose is bright, you just want to dive right in. Really nice and floral, with honeysuckle notes, and fruity with pear and kiwi. The taste is tangy with a long finish. It reminds me of lemon meringue pie. This is one of my favorite Chardonnays, especially given that it's not expensive and is easy to find.

Completely unrelated - I was planning on writing a blog post about New Zealand pinot noir today, since I had one a few weeks ago that was excellent and I was really excited about them. But then I had one that was nothing special, and I had one yesterday that I found basically undrinkable. So now I'm wondering if the first one was a fluke, or if the other two were just duds. The one I liked was Villa Maria 2008.