TN: 2005 Pride Mountain Vineyards Chardonnay

Lentini, you are the first one posting TNs on any of the regular Pride current releases. I bought 3x Chards and 3x Cabs. Any TNs on the Cabs yet?

I'm new to the Pride Mailing list... got on for the Spring and Fall 2006 offers. I wanted to try out their style (DRABbing them young) before buying in quantity, so I ordered just a bottle each of the Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv, and Chard.

I liked the Merlot 91pts worth, and haven't opened the Cab Franc yet.

For the most current release (getting to your question finally), I did try the Cab and thought it was very good. 90pts from me. I had it with my father and mother and even my pregnant wife had a sip, and they all liked it a lot. It could improve with bottle age I figure.

Tasting them young, I preferred the Shafer '03 (92pts) and the Neal '03 (92+pts), but that's not a fair comparison since those had more age on them and different vintage.

But life's not fair and I'm on a limited budget, so I'm probably not ordering from Pride anymore. Their chard style isn't my favorite and I like other Cabs slightly more. But they make excellent wines and I think most people would like both the chard and Cab Sauv more than I did.

lentini,

the Pride wines have little to none bottle life you drank i to soon!
i tryed their Viogner when we were at the tasting room, i didnot like it but my wife did even after we were told that it had just been bottle!
we bought 2
9 months later we had a bottle it was kick a$$!
it was the 04. called to get more sold out! i hunted it down an bought 6 more bottles!
pride is a nice treat!

I finished the last third of a bottle of the Chard last night... It really is a good wine. Still more oak than _I_ like, but most will love it. My score is up to 90-91. (I gave the '03 Hudson Vineyard Kistler Chard 93pts and the '04 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch 90pts for reference.)

It was excellent. Price isn't bad for a mailing list chard, either. $37 I think it was.

I figure you're right, Bez... My methodology of DRABbing these mailing list wines isn't the best way to evaluate them. I just want an early impression so I can focus my purchases a little more next year.

l,
next years wine won't be the same! close but not the same! an to space thing out to see how it changes!
maybe your friends will drink one with you down the road! an you can see how the oak blends in with the rest!

I have to applaud Lentini for popping one this early to share TNs. It sounds promising... I will probably pop mine a few months down the road.

Thanks!!