by Patrick Ogle
Good Harbor 2012 Chardonnay is a high acid wine from the Leelanau Penninsula. Michigan and chardonnay are not words you usually associate like
"Florida" and "sanity" or "cuisine" and "Arby's". This is not to dismiss Michigan wines; there are excellent rieslings, cabernet francs and even gamay from the wolverine state.
But chardonnay?
I was suspicious but I suppose it is cold in Champagne.
The acidity in this wine is high--and indeed this may be the wine's most obvious characteristic. I recall a tiny, infinitesimal sweetness here but the more I think about it I might have come up with that based on what I was eating.
I had to really taste this to get at the fruit. There is a lemony hint without any hint of sour. It is more like the flavor of lemon zest. The acidity here, however, doesn't have a citrus feel.
It has some minerality. The wine is one both chardonnay drinkers and non-chardonnay drinkers may like. There is something almost French about this wine. Maybe this has to do with the winemaker letting the location determine the taste. Maybe it is the aging in neutral oak or the high acidity.
There is this prejudice against chardonnay which has always struck me as odd; chardonnay is an incredibly versatile and forgiving grape. A Chablis is different from a Northern California chardonnay and there are limitless variations of this example. Conversely wines from vineyards that are neighbors can be quite different. This isn't getting into all the wonderful sparkling wines made from chardonnay, Champagnes being only the most obvious example.
Good Harbor chardonnay is 12 percent alcohol (says even lower on the website).
This isn't going to make you pour your Montrachet down the sink? Nor is it going to make you swear off Northern California chards. For $14-15 it is, however, a fairly solid wine. Keep in mind this is only if you are ok with the high acidity (which left me wondering if Good Harbor had any plans to make a sparkling wine). The problem they have is that there are a large number of good chardonnays in this price range.
$13-15
Good Harbor 2012 Chardonnay is a high acid wine from the Leelanau Penninsula. Michigan and chardonnay are not words you usually associate like
"Florida" and "sanity" or "cuisine" and "Arby's". This is not to dismiss Michigan wines; there are excellent rieslings, cabernet francs and even gamay from the wolverine state.
But chardonnay?
I was suspicious but I suppose it is cold in Champagne.
The acidity in this wine is high--and indeed this may be the wine's most obvious characteristic. I recall a tiny, infinitesimal sweetness here but the more I think about it I might have come up with that based on what I was eating.
I had to really taste this to get at the fruit. There is a lemony hint without any hint of sour. It is more like the flavor of lemon zest. The acidity here, however, doesn't have a citrus feel.
It has some minerality. The wine is one both chardonnay drinkers and non-chardonnay drinkers may like. There is something almost French about this wine. Maybe this has to do with the winemaker letting the location determine the taste. Maybe it is the aging in neutral oak or the high acidity.
There is this prejudice against chardonnay which has always struck me as odd; chardonnay is an incredibly versatile and forgiving grape. A Chablis is different from a Northern California chardonnay and there are limitless variations of this example. Conversely wines from vineyards that are neighbors can be quite different. This isn't getting into all the wonderful sparkling wines made from chardonnay, Champagnes being only the most obvious example.
Good Harbor chardonnay is 12 percent alcohol (says even lower on the website).
This isn't going to make you pour your Montrachet down the sink? Nor is it going to make you swear off Northern California chards. For $14-15 it is, however, a fairly solid wine. Keep in mind this is only if you are ok with the high acidity (which left me wondering if Good Harbor had any plans to make a sparkling wine). The problem they have is that there are a large number of good chardonnays in this price range.
$13-15
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