Drinking the 2002 Newton Chardonnay
Since I had an unexpected extra day in Oklahoma, I convinced my aunt-in-law to open up the bottle of 2002 Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay that I bought for her over a year ago. I got a good deal: Only $39.99 rather than the usual $50-$70/bottle for this wine. Still, anything over $25 seems expensive to me for a Chardonnay. Stag’s Leap and Domaine Drouhin make extremely nice Chardonnays for half the price of Newton, so I had high expectations for this particular wine.
Vinography has already reviewed this wine, but I haven’t read it yet as I want to provide an objective, personal review first. But I’m sure that review is a good one.
One note about this bottle: It stood in a cupboard at room temperature for over a year before we opened the bottle. We threw it in the fridge for a while before drinking, so it was chilled but it certainly didn’t have the best lifespan leading up to consumption. So it’s possible the aging process was accelerated a bit; the wine seemed generally fine but with a bit of an odd overtone at the outset that quickly vanished.
- Aroma: It changed quite a bit as the wine warmed and oxidized a bit, from peaches to burnt caramel to honeydew. Complex, with some serious depth that I wish I could have documented at the time as I drank the wine.
- Flavor: The Newton Web site talks about crispness and pears/apples, and all of that is present here, but the flavor is much more interesting than just a few types of fruit. It’s hard to explain but this wine is a bit beyond my palate yet, I believe…it’s that complex and unusual.
- General impression: There is a lot going on with this wine, but it’s all good. The aroma and flavor evolved over the 1-2 hours I spent drinking this wine, particularly as it warmed up. Very interesting stuff. I want more!
Great wine, but is it worth the money? I don’t know…I guess that depends on your budget. If you can afford the occasional bottle of $55 Chardonnay, Newton is worth a try. If you can’t afford it, well, I’d just look for Domaine Drouhin Arthur as it’s nearly as good and would probably be equally good after a couple years of aging.
This wine was something of a treat as my grandmother-in-law told me last year that they had consumed it already. So I put this bottle entirely out of my mind when I came back to visit this year. When my aunt pulled the bottle out of the cupboard, my first thought was, “Man, I hope that’s still good!” Luckily, it was good enough to drink fairly quickly!