| By :
Levi Reiss
You may know that Australia is a major wine producer and a major wine exporter. This is one of our first reviews of an inexpensive Australian wine. Today's wine comes from Victoria, the smallest mainland Australian state but the second largest wine producer. Victoria has been in the wine business for quite some time. Several Swiss winemakers settled there in 1846 but I can't promise you that today's wine comes from their descendants. This state produces some very highly regarded dessert wines and Chardonnay is a major grape. Today's wine is kosher and mevushal, flash-pasteurized. I thought I'd buy it anyway. I believe that the flash-pasteurization process has improved over the years and is not noticeable to most people.
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All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed Altoona Hills Chardonnay (V) 2008 13% alcohol about $10
Let's start by quoting the marketing materials. Description : Clean, well-balanced Chardonnay that is gratefully not over the top. Prime aromas are Macintosh apple, lime, peach and a hint of butter. Dry, creamy and ripe with good apple/peach replaying on the palate. Medium full-bodied with a lingering, balanced finish. Match it to roasted whole chicken or grilled salmon steaks. And now for my review. With the first sips this wine showed bright acidity. It was long lasting with lots of fruit. I first paired it with a boxed eggplant parmiagana slathered with grated parmesan cheese. The wine's acidity declined a bit. There was lime and it was rather mouth filling. Dessert was a high quality French lemon pie with an oh so buttery crust. The Chardonnay was acidic but light. I had hoped for a tango between the wine's lime and the pie's lemon but nothing really happened. The next meal consisted of home-cooked chicken nuggets in an orange-flavored, somewhat spicy Thai dipping sauce. The wine's acidity was bracing while not overdone. Its length was good as was its lime flavor. When the wine met a salad of chickpeas, canned corn, and Lebanese cucumbers this Chardonnay became a pale reflection of itself. Two desserts helped heal my broken heart I had. With a brownie this wine was light but pleasant; the lime was still there. With a slice of apple cake its acidity increased slightly. My final meal was baked chicken legs in a soy-maple sauce accompanied by potato salad and bean salad. With the chicken this wine was light and crisp and offered mouth-cleansing acidity. I tasted pears. It was round and fruity in the presence of the potato salad. When facing the bean salad in vinegar, it's acidity picked up. The first cheese was a rich cream cheese (24% butterfat) that tasted somewhat sweet even though there was no sugar added. The wine was nicely acidic and tasted of pears. With a Swiss cheese this Chardonnay lost most of its flavor. Final verdict. I would definitely buy this wine again, even more so at a lower price which the Internet promises. By the way, I surely would not have suspected that it was flash pasteurized.
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