What tastes better a $2.95 or a $17 Chardonnay?
My husband Mike and I visited a wonderful little winery on Virginia’s Eastern Shore near Cape Charles called Chatham Vineyards. We enjoyed a wine tasting and found a wonderful Chardonnay, a wine I don’t usually like. I have tasted Chardonnays in the past and found them bitter, dry and basically unappealing. But the Church Creek Chardonnay fermented in steel we tasted was different. It had a crisp refreshing taste with undertones of pears, yum.
This spurred and idea – my family was coming to visit so I decided to do a blind taste test of the $17 Church Creek Chardonnay vs the $2.95 Oak Leaf Chardonnay found only at Wal-Mart. I paired them with baked Brie encrusted with phyllo dough topped with apricot jam, my homemade potato soup, and homemade apple pie.
I started by concealing the wines then offered my family the more expensive Church Creek to taste. Everyone liked it, even my son-in-law a big red drinker. The wine was a hit. I wondered if the Wal-Mart $2.95 would be any competition at all. I poured, everyone swirled, sniffed and swished the cheap wine over their pallets with intense thought. My daughter said after careful consideration that she like the creaminess of the that one better. The Oak Leaf is fermented in Oak so the finishes are a bit different. In the end, after several glasses of each wine paired with every dish, the results were about 50/50, a tie. If you prefer a crisper, steel finish go with the Church Creek. If you prefer a creamery finish go with the budget friendly Oak Leaf.
Takeaways:
- Chardonnays pair best with creamy recipes.
- Price doesn’t always matter, your taste buds do.
- Next time you visit Virginia’s Eastern Shore do yourself a favor and stop by and Chatham Vineyards, I’m sure you will enjoy it. http://www.chathamvineyards.com/
