Wittmann, Chardonnay trocken, 2007

It is still Chardonnay time here at the Wine Rambler. Following some of my recent 'foreign' Chardonnay adventures, I decided it was time to go back to what Germany has to offer. This time the journey leads to Rheinhessen, where Philipp Wittmann goes from strength to strength with his biodynamic wines (yes, outstanding Riesling, but not only Riesling). What about his Chardonnay?

The colour is a shiny straw with a touch of brown, pleasant to look at. The nose is quite fruity, very expressive right from the start. It combines overripe fruit with mineral and citrus in a very exciting way, adding creamy aromas of fruit cake/flan. Compared to most wines at a recent Chablis tasting, the Wittmann Chardonnay clearly has a very expressive nose. In fact, it did in several ways remind me of a good champagne, particularly with the fruit flan.

On the tongue the Wittmann is fruity and juicy, almost too fruity, with lots of baked apple. As you would expect from a good Chardonnay, it also had nice mineral (of the flinty variety), and a long finish that started really zingy with lots of mineral and some spice, and then turned more on the creamy side.

A really good wine with many of the great characteristics of Chardonnay. If I had one complaint it would probably be that there may have been a little too much of the overripe fruit - but this may also reflect that on that particular day I had hoped for a more austere style of wine. Because of the fruit it did make a great companion to the fried scallops and monkfish tail with creamy lemon sauce though...