The 2023 White Dragon is a delight to drink! Aromatically the wine shimmers with lime oils, bright pineapple, soft lily, and confectioner sugar. Over time the wine becomes a more vibrant and playful wine with hints of green apple candy and a palate that tickles like a light spritz. The finish of the wine rounds out with a nice nostalgia of freshly baked white bread and shortbread cookie.
Chardonnays can be aged in stainless steel or variety of oak barrels, all of which greatly change the perception of the wine on your palate. This 2022 version is full of tropical fruits and asian pear with hints of white peach. Aged in French Oak and American Oak with just a touch of malic acid remaining. It has bright fruit with a bit of creaminess that lingers on the finish. This wine tends to disappear very quickly before dinner hits the table. This wine pairs beautifully with Roast Chicken, Steamed Mussels, Salmon and floating down a lazy river.
Not much Barbera is grown in Calaveras County near the southern reaches of the foothills. That could change following the showing of the Val du Vino Barbera at the 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition - best red wine. The Val du Vino Barbera stood out for the balance and clarity of the variety's telltale juicy cherry and berry fruit, insinuation of just enough oak to provide flirting diversion, a winking flash of anise, bashful tannins, chirpy acidity, and thin thread of sweetness. Yes, a more-than-usually complex Barbera.
