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Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard 2001

Marcassin , California, United States

Marcassin
California United States
  • 95
    Points
  • The 1 209 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 4 Pros of
    4 recommend
    this wine
19 95
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    331

  • Producer ranking ?

    11

  • Decanting time

    2h

  • When to drink

    2020-2035

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The Story

The rich, opulent Pinot Noir and Chardonnay crafted at Marcassin is minimally produced and very hard to get a hold of. Helen Turley's personal production philosophy shapes her winemaking process to be focused on quality and excellence always calling for, "great vineyards, meticulously farmed, limited yield, long hang time, and natural yeast." The 20-acre estate vineyard on the Sonoma Coast produces only 100 barrels annually. None of the wines ...

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Vintage 2001

A roller coaster ride

An early spring, a surprise frost and early heat spikes led to a bit of a roller coaster ride for the 2001 crop. The up-and-down temperatures began with a cold and harsh March, with two deceptive heat spikes into the 80s, which coaxed the vines into a slightly earlier bloom. The hottest May on record and the third hottest June (in total degree days) led to harvest around two to three weeks ahead of normal. August coole...

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Tasting note

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Written Notes

White Marcassin was quite popular, receiving 100 votes from the group, which was good enough for a clearly second-place finish. It only got one vote from the panel, though, again technically tied for seventh place there. The nose was very spiny, spicy and vigorous, quite pungent and intense. There were secondary aromas of citrus, cotton, smoke and a flash of banana. The palate was much more one-dimensional, to me that is. It was very brawny and woodsy and clumsy in that regard. There were caramel flavors, but I found the wine to be overly bitter. Big and rich but lacking a center, this wine had a big kick and expanded but failed to define itself for me on the palate, although I saw that there was a lot of potential for this wine to improve

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  • 91p

I had this wine at French Laundry, and therefore it was tasted open. The sommelier decanted the wine, as expected, and it stayed in the decanter for 20 minutes before I really tasted it. I can just image how much it opened up during that short period of time. As always, I find the wines of Marcassin to be a bit oaky at first and when young, but when they open up with some air, they show much more of their rich body, their depth, their intensity. With this wine, although it was almost 8 years old the time and the honey notes were more present, the oak was still there. Marcassin is always a very rich wine, and you almost always expect to find notes of pineapple and sweet lemon here, but still the acidity is so fresh so you’ll never feel any sweetness. This is one of the great things about this wine. Let’s go for the silky and quite charming body, but there is nothing easy about these wines. The acidity is always marked, this is the sign of the true Sonoma Coast, and even if there is sweetness from concentration and alcohol, you will describe the wine as completely dry. This is for sure a very good wine, but knowing it was a Marcassin, I actually expected a litte bit more. Was the wine fading away? Was it too old? Or was it still closed? To be honest, I don’t know.

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  • 93p
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Information

Origin

Sonoma, California
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