1999 McPherson Chardonnay, South Eastern Australia, 12.5%alc./vol. Approximately $8.50
Australia is known primarily for its spicy Shiraz, not Chardonnay. After tasting the 1999 McPherson Chardonnay, I have a better sense of why. Of course, it's possible this wine was put on the market too soon after bottling, and perhaps could have used a bit more time in cask. But whatever the reason behind its shortcomings, this is not a wine I would recommend for meal accompaniment of any sort, or to drink by itself right now. The ripe tropical fruit flavors are very faint, barely leaving an impression. It was too lip-smacking for my taste, without the fruit to properly back it up.
When I bought this bottle, the wine clerk, after asking me if I'd tasted the wine before, told me it was a good bottle of wine. This goes to show you should trust first and foremost your own tastes in wine consumption before trusting someone else’Äôs opinion, despite the efforts of this column to give readers an idea of what, generally, they're in for when they uncork a particular bottle of wine. If nothing else, it can provide one perspective from which to either contradict or parallel your own. One of the great things about wine, and also one of the most potentially frustrating, is the breadth of diversity in taste; another is the staggering number of different wines on the market. Each and every bottle of wine is a living, breathing entity (in stark contrast to the mass-produced, and mass blah of say, Coca-Cola or Budweiser bottles.) Each sip is a personal discovery, and oftentimes a journey. Cheers!
1/2 Philly out of 5.
Frank Marcopolos