2009 Peter Michael Chardonnay Ma Belle Fille

The 2009 Chardonnay Ma Belle-Fille opens with butterscotch, spices, savory herbs, tropical fruit, lemon and pastry. This is a powerful, extroverted Chardonnay, yet all of the elements are beautifully balanced. Layers of fruit crescendo towards the rich, intense finish.

The 2009 Chardonnay Ma Belle-Fille opens with butterscotch, spices, savory herbs, tropical fruit, lemon and pastry. This is a powerful, extroverted Chardonnay, yet all of the elements are beautifully balanced. Layers of fruit crescendo towards the rich, intense finish. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2021. I tasted a large number of wines at Peter Michael. Overall, the 2009 reds made the most positive impression on this visit. The 2009 Chardonnays are very strong. I am less enamored with the 2010 Chardonnays, as they clearly show the ill-effects of a challenging growing season, which at Peter Michael yielded very concentrated whites with slightly higher than normal alcohol levels and an element of heaviness that is out of character. Winemaker Nick Morlet describes 2010 as a difficult year. Bud break was a full month late. High winds and rain during the flowering resulted in high amounts of shatter and yields that are dramatically lower than normal. Morlet describes 2009 as a vintage where everything ripened quickly and at the same time. This lineup includes several wines that are being released for the first time, including a trio of Pinot Noirs from estate-owned coastal vineyards planted in 2006 and 2007. It will be fascinating to see how those wines develop as the vines acquire age. The newest wine in the ever-expanding Peter Michael stable is a new Cabernet Sauvignon from the former Showket vineyard that will make its debut with the 2011 vintage and that will be called Le Chevalier. I hope to taste it soon. I tasted the 2010 Chardonnays and Pinots from barrel. Those wines were scheduled to be bottled in February 2012. The 2009 Chardonnays and Pinots were bottled in late January/early February 2011. Tel. (800) 354-4459; www.petermichaelwinery.com

Hazy yellow. Heady, exotically perfumed bouquet of dried pear, peach pit, candied lemon, iodine and smoky lees, plus a suave floral quality and a touch of anise. Enters rich and weighty but quickly gains tension, offering zesty citrus and orchard fruit flavors and an intense, almost saline mineral underpinning. Finishes smoky and extremely long, with the iodine and pear notes echoing. I find the interplay of richness and minerality to be really intriguing.