was one of my favourites to come out of the 2004 vintage, and one of my all-time favourite wines to come out of Flat Rock (granted they are a relatively young winery in the grand scheme of things), but this was one fantastic wine when I tried it some 2 and a half years ago. So fantastic in fact that I decided that I just had to lay down a bottle and see what happens. Now here it is, the day I have been waiting for, and I am racked with questions about this wine. My first sniff and taste screamed out “green” and “mature” at the same time. But how can that be, green means young and mature, well that speaks for itself. Time for more aeration… There’s definitely a vanilla-caramel note here that I’m just loving (that’s my sweet tooth talking to my nose), there’s also some butterscotch and toffee coming from the glass. Any fruit character I’m smelling is that of old fruit, there’s nothing ripe and fresh here, maybe over-ripe is a better term, a hint of cucumber wafts out of the glass and then there is definitely an caramel apple sensation. Taste still has a bit of a bite in the finish with good acidity and the caramel apple keeps coming back to me, but I’m thinking it’s a Granny Smith caramel coated apple and not a Mac; the colour has definitely gone golden yellow, and the finish is quite persistent. The more I sip the more I’m thinking I still like this wine. As many of you may know I am not a huge Chardonnay fan, but this one hits the mark as something different – and I like different. I definitely like different.
