Last May, when I was in New York to celebrate a friend's good news, I found myself at Best Cellars, a wine shop that specializes in $15-or-less wines that are categorized by descriptors like "fresh," "juicy," "big" and "sweet."
I was looking for a Fingerlakes wine to take home with me -- hoping for a Riesling (they seem to be all the rage when it comes to NY wines). Unfortunately, the store didn't have any, so I ended up with a Fingerlakes Chardonnay, the 2003 Salmon Run. (Salmon Run one of the labels produced by Vinifera Wine Cellars, which has been around since 1962. That's a long time -- 10 years older than Clos Du Val!)
I didn't know what to expect from the Salmon Run Chard. The store had put it in the "soft" category, which scared me (I immediately conjured up a flabby, over-oaked, dripping-with-butter wine). So I put off opening the bottle.
Until two nights ago. And even then, I admit I didn't have high expectations, especially since the wine was an 03, its color had darkened to a golden shade and I was worried the wine had become oxidized and had totally lost all of its fruit.
Man, was I pleasantly surprised. The wine was no butterbomb at all. There were nice floral and peach notes on the nose, and in the mouth, there was good minerality, a hint of apricot and a creamy yet clean feel. And this Chard was absolutely fantastic with food. (He was cooking -- we had a tofu and veggie stir fry with asparagus, mushrooms and rainbow chard -- some peanut oil flavoring and some heat to it. And the wine went really, really well with the meal.)
Definitely a good NY souvenir.
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