Carol Shelton Wild Thing Chardonnay 2021
-
Wong
Wilfred
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Tropical fruits like pineapple and a bit of guava, green apple, and oak spice. Soft creamy mouthfeel, punctuated by bright acidity and a crisp finish. Walks the line between pure stainless steel fermented, leaner Chardonnay and the fat, buttery barrel-fermented style.
Very food compatible with chicken, pork or fish.
Professional Ratings
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2021 Carol Shelton Wild Thing Chardonnay is pleasing, up-front, and smooth on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits attractive aromas and flavors of ripe peach skin, ripe apples, and a slight creaminess. Enjoy it with lightly-spiced fried chicken. (Tasted: May 8, 2023, San Francisco, CA)
Other Vintages
2016-
Wong
Wilfred
-
Wong
Wilfred
In 2000 Carol and her husband Mitch Mackenzie, a former software engineer, launched their own brand – Carol Shelton Wines. Faced with the opportunity to create her own identity and focus on whatever varietals she wanted, Carol chose Zinfandel.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Home to a diverse array of smaller AVAs with varied microclimates and soil types, Sonoma County has something for every wine lover. Physically twice as large as Napa Valley, the region only produces about half the amount of wine but boasts both tremendous quality and variety. With its laid-back atmosphere and down-to-earth attitude, the wineries of Sonoma are appreciated by wine tourists for their friendliness and approachability. The entire county intends to become a 100% sustainable winegrowing region by 2019.
Sonoma County wines are produced with carefully selected grape varieties to reflect the best attributes of their sites—Dry Creek Valley’s consistent sunshine is ideal for Zinfandel, while the warm Alexander Valley is responsible for rich, voluptuous red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are important throughout the county, most notably in the cooler AVAs of Russian River, Sonoma Coast and Carneros. Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Syrah have also found a firm footing here.