Alpha Omega’s Napa Chardonnay is a creamy wine, ripe, full-bodied, and ample but with a tint of field herbs and barrel bitterness. It’s unapologetically New World in temperament, reflective of the working style of winemaker Jean Hoefliger and Alpha Omega consultant Michel Rolland.
The team barrel-ferments the fruit with native cultures in French oak, 40 percent new, and all lots go through malolactic. The wine aged 18 months in barrel, with stirring, and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Its aromas are nutty, suggesting toasty brown butter and spice, but there’s also a whiff of laurel and musky yellow citrus to add dimension. Texturally it spreads out in a slick of cream and ripe yellow stone fruits, but the richness is (mercifully) lifted by suggestions of sage and snappy herbs.
This wine needs food of substance to match this opulence. Pair it with cream and butter sauces, roasted poultry, especially with sage, or rich shellfish like shrimp and lobster. For cheese, try medium aged cow’s milk offerings like Comté, Morbier, triple cream, and buttermilk blues.
2013 Alpha Omega Chardonnay Napa Valley
14.5% abv | $76 (sample)
Alpha Omega Winery
