Wine review: Meridian 2006 Chardonnay

Source: Flickr

Source: Flickr

Rating

Disagree

Winery

Meridian

Vintage

2006

Grape

Chardonnay

Where

California, USA

Price

$8.00

Buy at

Trader Joes

This wine is good for...
a house party
a dinner party
weekend fun
relaxing at home

Jon says... Don't Buy

Boring wine. It’s got some fruit flavors, but nothing special. It’s got some oak, but not enough to be one of those oak-bomb chardonnays. This is the Meg of the California chardonnays. And just like Meg, it’s obnoxious. You pour yourself a glass of it and feel obligated to finish it before you move on to something better.

The Smoking Loon chardonnay moderates fruit and oak flavors in a way that works. The Meridian tries for the same balance, but falls flat on its face. But it does have a cool painting on the label (very early ’90’s).

Ted says... Buy

This is a very good example of what a Chardonnay should be. On the nose it nice fruit—green apple, a bit of pineapple, and even a little tangerine. It is full bodied and has very nice oakiness that gives it good structure. It is a nicely balanced wine and a pleasure to drink. This wine is a delight on it’s own, or with food, is going to go great with seafood, BBQ chicken, or even a hearty pasta dish.

The best part about the wine is the back label which reads:

Wind at your back. Water everywhere. The Pacific. A full sail. Friend at the helm. Sunny and bright. The day. The wine. Chardonnay. This Chardonnay.

4 comments

Tapper42nd wrote 27 weeks 1 day ago

lol Ted, if the best part of the wine is the label, how good of a wine can it be?

-Colleen (Cornell ’05!)

ted wrote 27 weeks 1 day ago

Hey the label affects your perception of the wine, it can certainly influence it. I’ll do a write up on that in future posts :) And hey it’s an $8 bottle, that’s a pretty darn good label at that price point.

Burrloin wrote 27 weeks 22 hours ago

I totally agree with Ted. At $6 at my store it is a bargain. Nice fruit, body and just enough oak. Good overall balance. Much better that some Chardonnays that I have paid over twice as much for.