DeLoach Vineyards Reviews

pretty and attractively restrained, even cool nose fuses together notes of plum, violets, blue pinot fruit and red currant aromas. The round and very generous flavors retain a reasonably good sense of detail and fine mid-palate concentration, all wrapped in a finish that offers solid if not perfect balance as well as good depth and length. There is a hint of acid tang but I suspect that this will become less obvious with a year or two of bottle age.

A sleek, focused red, with cherry and caramel aromas that follow through to balanced flavors of crisp raspberry, cola and spice. Drink now through 2017.

Tart cranberry flavors darken into the finish of this wine. It ends on black fruit, lasting with the warmth of alcohol, leaving a firm impression as well as a note of oak. This needs a year or two in the cellar to evolve. *Best Buy

With notes of buttered toast, honey and vanilla cream, this Chardonnay is overpowered by new oak barrel influence. Beneath that are delicious fruit flavors of pineapples, oranges, pears and apricots. Rich and flashy in the popular style, with good acidity, but the heavy hand of oak limits the score. -S.H.

DeLoach Vineyards 2009 Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California ($13) Vibrant mouthfeel and a floral undercurrent are preceded by a nose of crushed rose petals and apples. Its Asian-pear notes are not overly acidic, and there's a touch of effervesence throughout before a finish that's elegant and laced with tropical-fruit notes. http://www.slashfood.com/2011/01/06/sonoma-chardonnay-wine-of-the-week/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter