CHARDONNAY TASTING - MAY 6, 2000
This May, we were fortunate to have a visiting group of researchers who offered to assist our staff in another Chardonnay tasting. After days spent gathering the research material, the tasting was carried out at the Orr Creek Research Center, and the results are shown below.
| Wine Tasters' Individual Ratings | ||||||||||
| (5 = Highest; 1 = Lowest) | ||||||||||
| Rank | Meg | Marty | Sharona | Lynne | Ron | Theresa | Pete | Average Rating | ||
| Stag's Leap Hawk Crest 1997 ($14) | 1 | 3.00 | 4.50 | 2.50 | 5.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 2.50 | 3.36 | |
| Parducci 1999 ($10) | 2 | 2.50 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 1.00 | 4.00 | 5.00 | 2.75 | 3.32 | |
| Silverado (non-reserve) 1998 ($22) | 3 | 1.50 | 5.00 | 3.50 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 4.00 | 3.33 | 3.19 | |
| William Hill Reserve 1998 ($22) | 4 | 2.75 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 4.00 | 3.11 | |
| Silverado Reserve 1997 ($38) | 5 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 3.41 | 3.06 | |
| William Hill (non-reserve) 1998 ($15) | 6 | 1.75 | 2.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.35 | 3.01 | |
| Navarro Chardonnay Table Wine 1998 ($12) | 7 | 2.50 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 5.00 | 1.00 | 3.87 | 2.77 | |
This was a blind tasting conducted as three separate flights: one of three wines, and two of two wines each. Tasters were instructed to judge each wine on its own merits rather than comparing it to the other wines. Wines were currently available vintages purchased shortly before the tasting at the wineries (with the exception of the Narvarro which was on hand at the tasting site.)