Bourg Lachamps Chardonnay 2006

Tasting note
Colour - Very pale straw.

Aroma - Creamy peach and mineral and lemon aromas.

Taste - Ripe pear with a hint of white peach and underlying creaminess. Minerally too.

	Type:Still White Wine		Country:France		Appellation:Coteaux de l'Ardeche VdP
	Grape Type:Chardonnay		Drink Before:End of 2009		Style:Dry
	Alcohol:14%		Bottle Size:75cl		Bottle Code:26265

Description
Tucked away, just to the west of the southern Rhone valley lies the Ardeche. Despite its proximity to this famous French region, the area has remained relatively unknown to most, yet it produces some excellent value, quality wines. These are appreciated by the tourists that flock there every Summer, the only time it gets busy, to enjoy the abundant watersports, its impressive landscape of dramatic gorges and winding valleys, and attractions such as its prehistoric caves.

Traditionally the area has grown the same range of grapes as its neighbour. However, more recently it has shown its potential with international stars such as Cabernet and Chardonnay.

We have been working with the Valvigneres cellar for the last 20+ years, always impressed with the extremely high quality of fruit they bring in. In fact, we made our first Chardonnay there in the 1980s with Flying Winemaker extraordinaire Brian Croser from Petaluma (a legendary estate in Oz) and haven't looked back since.

In 2006, the Greek New Yorker Zane Katzikis, who trained with top Aussie winemaker Philip Shaw, was in charge for us. The idea behind the wine was to make it in the style of a white Burgundy, so it was carefully cool-fermented with some lees-ageing and given a malolactic fermentation to produce a wine with broad, creamy character and underlying acidity.

International Wine Challenge 2008, United Kingdom

Own Label Awards Championships 2008 2008, United Kingdom

Bourg Lachamps Chardonnay 2006 is available in the following cases: