Foxen Block UU Bien Nacido Vineyard Chardonnay 2012
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Wine Enthusiast
Foxen’s UU bottling is practically an insurance policy for great Chardonnay in any vintage. With 2012, the winery was granted a balanced, even harvest, with the resulting wine showing brisk acidity and subtle fruit and mineral flavors, touched with sweet oak. It defines a cool-climate style of Chardonnay in a most delicious way
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Wine & Spirits
The block's shale-laced benchland soil produces notably concentrated fruit. Ergo this powerful yet balanced Chardonnay, displaying a mouthwatering tension between its pink grapefruit tang and its warm, sun-charged breadth. There's a fair amount of oak onthe wine, which integrates as it takes on air. A dynamic Bien Nacido Chardonnay for grilled Pacific swordfish with a fruit salsa.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Just bottled and a beautiful, mineral-driven effort that boasts aromas of white peach, white flowers, subtle toast and baking bread, the 2012 Chardonnay Block UU – Bien Nacido Vineyard is medium-bodied, juicy and lively on the palate. This all-around classy, lean and focused Chardonnay has outstanding depth and length, and will have 4-5 years of prime drinking. Drink now-2017. Both of these Chardonnays could warrant higher ratings in another year once they settle in bottle.
Rating: 90+
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One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A lesser-known but elite AVA within the larger Santa Barbara district, the Santa Maria Valley AVA runs precisely west to east starting near the coast. The valley funnels cool, Pacific Ocean air to the vineyards more inland, allowing grapes a longer hang time to ripen evenly and achieve their full potential by harvest time. Combined with minimal rainfall, consistent warm sunshine, and well-drained soils, it is an ideal environment for grape growing.
Many of the wineries here are small and highly respected, having established a reputation in the 1970s and 80s for producing excellent Central Coast wines like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. More recently, Syrah has also proven quite successful in the region. Many vineyards are owned by growers who sell their grapes to other wineries, so it is common to see the same vineyard name on bottlings from different wineries. Bien Nacido Vineyard is perhaps the best-known and most prestigious.