The color was medium gold, deeper than I expected from a wine of this age. It had a beautiful nose of tropical fruit, oak, and a little vanilla. The wine is viscous with flavors of pineapple and melons. It benefited from warmer drinking temperature when its weight came to the forefront. A big wine with 15.4% alcohol, it improved with time. (A subsequent unrated bottle was decanted 45 minutes in advance and showed a little better.) 92 now. May approach Parker's 95 with sufficient age.

I had this wine last month and rated it a little lower than Board-O. I got a creamed corn nose with a little hazelnut and tropical fruit. The fruit continued onto the fat palate with guava, passion fruit, etc. and the moderately long finish -- maybe 35 seconds? While the taste was very good, and the alcohol masked well, the wine felt a bit flabby to me and was not as deep or layered as I would have liked. It was consumed in the company of some truly great wines, so that may have caused my score to lower, but iirc, I rated it 90.5 points and did not feel it would ever achieve the level of score Parker indicated, even using his (higher) point scale. Still, a nice wine.

a

I also had this wine last month and found a smoky minerality on the nose and palate that was unusual for a Napa chard. Like Board-O, I think this will improve with bottle time, and may approach Parker's score.

Board-o, I know your a fan of this wine from most any vintage. What does this juice usually go for?

TJ,

If you shop around, you should be able to find this for $50, maybe, if you are lucky, a little less.

a

I made quite a score- you ain't gonna believe this-$26.50 per bottle, plus shipping, no tax. That's why I bought a case, that and Parker's 95 rating.

WOW! Board-O, that is a terrific price!

Congrats on the great score! The lowest I've seen Sbragia in the past 4 years was $33 and that was for the '00 vintage

a

There are a number of places listed on Wine Searcher selling this for under $32, with the lowest price being $29 and change.

Grabbed one at Costco on Monday for $29.99. Opened last night and I confirmed that I just do not care for this style of chardonnay anymore. I lump Rombauer into the big oak and butter profile as well.

We had this wine last Sunday as a prelude to a Margaux vertical. It paired well with shrimp and clams in a cayenne cream sauce.

The wine had a more muted nose than I remember of melons, tropical fruit, and oak. On the palate, it was buttery, oaky, and rich with lush flavors of pear and melon. Delicious. Everyone rated it either 91 or 93.

We had this wine last night for the 11th time. It had a brillaint nose of pears, tropical fruit, and oak. On the palate, the wine had a silky mouthfeel with lush flavors of honeydew and pears. Delicious as always. There's no reason to hold this wine. 93