Laetitia 2007 Chardonnay
This Chardonnay through me for a total loop. When I first tried the wine, nearly immediately upon opening it, the hints of oak were in this wine, but not enough to be very noticeable. I guesstimated that this wine was stainless steel aged. Yes, I detected some ML guess it had about 60% (the wine has 80%).
Then I reviewed the winemakers notes and was completely shocked. The wine was aged in 9 months in French Oak barrels.
Laetitia’s 2007 Chardonnay displayed a beautiful yellow color, with a little bit of gold thrown in there. I wanted to spend a bit longer lingering at the color, rather then trying it. I soon came to my senses and stuck my nose in the glass.
There were traces of oak in the initial sniff along with hints of a bartlett pear and bit of citrus. A faint whiff of lemon could be found if you swirled it around for a bit. It was if it didn’t want to come out of the shadows. A delightful smell overall. This wine does really well if you give it about a 30 minute lag time between opening and sniffing/drinking. I found the aromas to blossom after giving it some time to open up.
The Chardonnay displayed a very even mouth feel. It lightly gripped that back of my tongue with a bit of tannins. It’s a 2007 after all. I’d recommend giving this wine about a year in the cellar to let those tannins disappear. In addition to a few tannins, a bit more lemon came through with a dab of figs in the background.
The pièce de résistance is this wine’s finish. The length kept going, and going, and going. The lemon that was found on the mid-palate turned to honey on the after taste. Beautiful. The complete mouth feel was still apparent nearly a few minutes after spitting.
What makes this wine that much more appealing is it breaks the $20 mark at $18. The wine is well made, even and balanced. I would give this wine a year more of cellaring before opening, however it is still very drinkable now.
You can purchase this wine directly from Laetitia’s website at https://shop.laetitiawine.com/. They also have a Facebook group page.
