Little Engine Wines French Family Release Chardonnay 2020 Wine Review

Little Engine Wines French Family Release Chardonnay 2020

Naramata Bench, British Columbia BC V.Q.A., Canada

Community Score:96/100

Community Reviews: 1

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Price: $36.00

Drink: 2021-2026

Bottle size: 750 ml

Alcohol: 13.3%

Sweetness: Dry

Wine Type: White Wine

Winery: Little Engine Wines

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Reviews and Ratings

Deborah Podurgiel WSET IV Candidate - Certified Sommelier rated this wine as 96/100 with the following review:

Okay, I’m in love again. I am absolutely smitten with Litte Engine Winery’s 2020 French Family Release. Even the nose is enticing with its soft spritz of honeysuckle, white florals, golden apple, pear, ginger, white pepper and lemon curd each flavour so defined, refined and delicious.

On the palate this amazing dry, unoaked Chardonnay is medium-plus-bodied with laser balance fruit to acidity; plushy with dried white florals, fresh ripe orchard fruit, creamy lemon pudding, stony mineral flavours viscous, rounded, and vibrant with a forever finish (more than a minute). This is an amazing, complex, elegant, and once-in-a-lifetime Chardonnay. Tasted July 2021.

Little Engine’s winemaker, Scott Robinson, confirms that this is one of a kind Chard. “The 2020 harvest produced some of the most flavour intense wines that I have witnessed in my time winemaking in the Okanagan. This French Family Chard is comprised of grapes from three clones of Chardonnay from three estate vineyards here on the Naramata Bench. I pick based on flavour ripeness and this past harvest we had optimal flavours at a lower sugar level and perfect acidity. I skin contact destemmed grapes before pressing in order to extract more aroma and flavour compounds. I use multiple yeasts to bring out these flavours and ferment long and cool to retain them.”

There is a touch of residual sugar on the 2020 French Family Release Chardonnay giving a nice weight on the palate says Scott, “This will give you the perception of palate weight upfront, but it finishes crisp and dry.”

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Little Engine Wines French Family Release Chardonnay 2020 Wine Review