By Duane Pemberton
Winery website: http://www.closduval.com
Clos Du Val is a Napa brand that has wide-spread national distribution and has garnered a loyal following for producing good wines for the money.
Technical Data:
- Appellation: Carneros, Napa Valley
- Composition: 100% Chardonnay
- Fermentation: Barrel fermented
- Cooperage: 10 months in French oak barrels, 20% new barrels
- Acid: 6.6 g/L pH: 3.4
- Alcohol: 13.5%
- Soil Type: clay loams on fractured bedrock
- Age of vines: 7-25 years
- Harvest date: August 28 – September 15, 2009
- Bottling: August 2010
- Production: 10,000 cases produced
- Price: $25
Nose: Cantaloupe, marshmellow, pear, peach and hazelnut. I also get some very nice creaminess on the nose that’s not at all over-powering but rather well in-check with the rest of what’s going on here.
Taste: Pear, apricot-glaze, white pepper, peach skin and marshmellow abound here with over tones of lightly-toasted marshmellow and cantaloupe. Very nice combination of fruit, acids and moutnfeel make this a no-brainer pick for cream-based pasta dishes, shrimp scampi or even lighter fare such as fresh shellfish.
