2000 HdV Chardonnay

With much anticipation, we opened a bottle of the 2000 HdV Chardonnay last night. HdV is a joint venture between Aubert de Villaine of Domaine Romanee Conti and Larry Hyde owner of the Hyde vineyard. Some of the best SBs we’ve had came from the Hyde vineyard, and when you add the DRC connection… Although reviews have been mixed, some have been superlative.

Alas, this particular bottle would not get the rave reviews. On the plus side, it had wonderful mid palate flavors of melon and honey (yum!), but it was very alcoholic on the tongue and had a slight sour thing going on the finish. Maybe it is just too young? Maybe my expectations were too high? We’ll try again in a few months.

\bob

My experience with this wine is completely the opposite. I thought it was very fine and more than a little reminiscent of Lafon.

hopefully it was just this bottle - anyone else tried it yet?

I've not tried it yet but hope to get my hands on a bottle. Jones note sounds very interesting. On the Parker board the Chard was fairly well liked and the pinot was so so. I'm going to try to get a bottle next week.

What should this wine cost- saw it at a local wine shop recently... and was curious.

$45.

I just purchased a bottle of this from The Wine Club in SF for $36.99. The web site has it a couple of bucks cheaper. I'll be having it this weekend.

Msrp is $45 so you got a very good price.

Thanks- I want to say it was in the high 30s here in NJ- if I get back to that shop soon, I may grab one.

I'm with Bressler on this one. Had this last night at Water Grill in L.A.. $100 off the list. Served too cold, but we let it warm a bit. Found it thin, acidic and biting. Decent mid-palate, but a forgettable finish. 88 pts. My dinner companion was even less impressed.

The last thing this wine should be is thin acidic and biting. Sounds like a bad bottle - serving it too cold only makes it tougher to tell early on if the wine is slightly corked.

We had another bottle of the HdV tonight from someone else's cellar. It was a LOT better than the bottle we had recently from our cellar. When first opened it was wonderfully floral with a smooth buttery mouth feel. Alas, as it opened, it became more and more oakey.

OK, yes it was somewhat like a white burgundy, but it has to last more than it did for me to give it a thumbs up.

What the heck is going on with bottle variation like this?

\bob

For all you East Coasters, WIne Library just put this on sale for $38.99/btl. Best price I have seen.

I opened this last night with BBQ'd chicken. Started drinking long before dinner. I was hoping this would be a good bottle but I just can't say that. I think I may have had a slightly corked bottle as during the first night the fruit was slightly muted. I'm wondering if I should get a second bottle. I purchased this bottle at The Wine Club in SF for $36.99.

Wow. The inconsistency of this wine (or at least our impressions of it) is stunning. I wonder if they had a storage problem and left half of their wine out in the sun? I'd love to try this again for comparison purposes, but it sounds as if I've got a 50-50 chance of burning $40.

I tasted this today at a local retailer under poor tasting conditions at best and I thought the wine was excellent. I would have informally rated it in the lower 90's. I purchased 3 bottles for $37.50 each.

Winetex 90+; $45

We opened our first bottle of this wine last night. I agree with Jones' review in the Oenofile. It is a very nice wine and took a long time to open up, maybe 30 minutes while warming a bit. It was almost the right temperature to start. It is elegant in the style of a white burgundy but with no minerality.

There is quite a bit of acidity and I believe it is going to be excellent after a couple of years. The other bottles are sleeping now.

I might bring one of these to the offline Winetex.

Had this wine for the first time this weekend. We paid $67 for it at the restaurant and it was worth every penny. I am glad that I found 4 bottles at retail. I agree completely with Jones' assesment of the wine. This is made in the style of a well made Burgundy. The primary flavors of apples and spice with a touch of fig were beautifully blended and with a little air this wine is drinking well now. I feel that this will drink well for 4-5 years. I am giving this wine a score of 94pts. The highest score I have given a chard in a long time.

IW