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Alright, the winemaker’s a friend… but seriously… this is some unreal Chardonnay. Really.

Picture a Chardonnay.

Whaddaya think of?

Lots of people think of a white loaded with oak. Some people think of fish. Some people think of half-naked blonde women wearing little other than gold jewelry on a summer evening. (don’t ask).

Big fruit doesn’t always come to the forefront when talking about Chardonnays.

Beauregard Vineyards is known for making really ballsy wines, and their 2003 Beauregard Ranch Chardonnay is 120% in keeping with this reputation. This is a Chardonnay loaded– literally loaded– with Santa Cruz mountain fruit. Grapes from 40-year old vines grown on the family ranch, aged in 100% French oak, are left utterly alone– showcasing the distinct flavors of the unique fruit that comes from this small and intense winegrowing region (Bonny Doon, CA).

And at 15.5% alcohol by volume, I’m pretty damn loaded too, after tasting a bottle prior to this review.

Those of you who like more mineral-based, traditional, acidic Chardonnays may prefer Beauregard’s Bald Mountain Chardonnay. But this Beauregard Ranch Chardonnay is, seriously, something special. Knowing Ryan Beauregard, I know that’d he’d shoot me with his compound bow if I even considered using the word “buttery” when talking about his Chardonnay. So I’ll say “creamy” instead. Put it this way: I just BBQ’d a couple of fresh Pacific salmon steaks that my buddy caught yesterday; I served the salmon with some sundried tomato and pine nut pasta and an arugala salad from the garden… and sucked down a full bottle of this chardonnay along with it… because it’s so… soft going down.. and so tasty…. it was like drinking a cream soda without all the extra sugar… followed by a bong hit of really fresh fruit and a triple shot of grapa.

Ryan Beauregard, at 30 years old, is one of the youngest wine grower/wine makers around. He grows almost all the grapes used in Beauregard wine– mostly on vineyards that his family has planted– then hand-crafts each wine he produces, in small batches sold almost exclusively via their website and their tasting room on the Santa Cruz Wharf. This is winemaking the way it should be– where the winemaker makes only wines that he wants to drink himself. And drink he does, trust me. He’s extremely proud of everything he produces– and he’ll stand behind it all.. and probably knock you out if you tell him you hate it without good reason. Fortunately, for those of us who think spitting during wine tasting is an offense to the winemaker, Ryan likes Burly wines with lots of alcohol in them. It’s impressive, though, how well he balances the ballsiness of his wine– all of his 2003 wines should cellar for at least 10 years, and many are excellent now. I don’t know how he does it. For a while there, his 2000 Cab (a bad year for Cab in much of CA) was like Crack to wine-lovers in Santa Cruz. It must be in the fruit…

So, all in all, I’m giving this 2003 Chardonnay a 120 out of 100. And if you don’t like it, then go fuck yourself!

(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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