By Duane Pemberton
Winery website: http://www.hoguecellars.com
For many Washington State wine lovers, we have a certain fondness for Hogue as it was one of the first “gateway” wines for a great deal of us. It wasn’t “Chateau Ste. Michelle”, it was “cool” because it was based out of Prosser and seemed to have a good amount of flair to it.
Well a lot has changed for this iconic Washington producer since that time – it was acquired by Constellation Brands for starters and has fallen out of vogue for some folks.
I had a recent opportunity to meet its former Assistant winemaker and PR lady and was quite pleased to get the chance to check this wine out.
Technical Data:
- Harvest Date: September 12, 2007
- Appellation: Yakima Valley
- Varietal Percentage: 100% Chardonnay
- Brix at Harvest: 24.7º
- RS: 0.05g/100ml
- TA: 0.63g/100ml
- pH: 3.55
- Alcohol: 14.6% by volume
- Case Production: 800
- Price: $30
Nose: Lightly-buttered peaches with complex hints of golden delicious apple, pears and marshmellow. I also get nice notes of honeysuckle and baking spices.
Taste: A very tasty “new world” chardonnay that offers good complexity, plenty of fruit with a solid mid-palate that remains soft yet still has some acids on it. Very good finish with notes of canteloupe, creamsickle and pear – drink now or hold for 3-5 years.
