I’ve written about Channing Daughters Winery several times here at LENNDEVOURS (just use the search function to your left for a list of posts). And while I think most of their wines are over-priced, they do almost always sell out to their wine club — so I guess they are the closest thing to "cult wines" that we have here locally.

What I like best about CDW is how they experiment with varietals, blends and yeasts, often using natural yeasts for their chardonnays. Their 2004 "Clones" bottling is one such experimental blend.

Composed of 90% chardonnay (11 clones of it: 75, 76, 78, 95, 96, Pisacano, 15, 17, 5, 4 and musque) with 5% pinot noir, 1.5% semillon, 1.7% aligote and1.8%  gewurztraminer, this is probably the most unique blended white on the East Coast. The grapes were hand harvested, whole cluster pressed and
bottled by gravity. All of the varieties were pressed and
fermented together, using five barrels were utilized (two new Slovenian oak
barrels, one one- year-old barrel and two stainless steel barrels.) The
wine in the new Slovenian oak was fermented on its own naturally occurring
wild yeast.

Eyes: Light-to-medium gold

Nose: Complex with apples, pears, peaches, baking spices and faint floral notes

Tongue: This is a fairly full-bodied white that could use a touch more acid for my liking (keep in mind that flabby chards are my least favorite wines). It’s nicely fruity with crisp pear and stone fruit giving way to tropical flavors as the wine warms a little in the glass.

Price: $29

Overall: We enjoyed this as an aperitif before the pumpkin-carving party Saturday night and it was a nice wine. CDW suggests pairing it with "richer fish dishes, mushrooms, chicken, pork and veal" As I said, I think a touch more acidity (more aligote?). It’s not great in terms of price:quality ratio…but it’s a very good wine. With just over 100 cases made, this wine has already sold out and it would qualify for tomorrow’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, but I’ve got another trick up my sleeve for tomorrow.

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