Babcock

Grand Cuvee Chardonnay
Santa Barbara AVA
Santa Barbara County
2006

Visual: Medium light yellow

• Nose: Fresh peach and lemon, with melon and herbal notes underneath.

• Mouth: Silky and lively, with good acidity, this is not a big, round wine. Nice fruit flavors, with impressions of wet stone, and just a hint of toast from the oak in the finish.

• Overall impression: For California Chardonnay, this was fresh, a bit lean and minerally Chablis-style wine, with very light hints of oak. Well made, but really not that exciting.

• Stats: 5 months in 33% new French oak; 676 cases; $35; My score: 89