The San Luis Canyon Chardonnay was pitched to me as a second label from a fairly well-known winery in California's Central Coast region. I could not confirm that, so I'll skip past it and get on to the wine.
The nose of this non-vintage wine is very aromatic, and the wood is the most noticeable component. It's not a very fruity aroma, in fact this is what I would call a big, buttery Chardonnay. If that's your thing, you'll be alright with this wine. If it's not, the taste will linger in your mouth all night as an ugly reminder of it. And I do mean linger. The finish on this wine is amazingly long, but that won't be a good thing if you didn't like it to begin with.
On the palate, there is some fruit. It's big with pears, and a butterscotch flavor that dominates even that. As I said, if you are a fan of the big California Chardonnay, this is it. If you prefer minerals with your white wine, you will be disappointed. Fortunately, I like variety. So a big California Chardonnay happened to be right up my alley this night. Tomorrow, I'll probably want to go the other way.
