Lots of people hear Scharffenberger and instantly suppose chocolate. However John Scharffenberger — earlier than he launched the Scharffen Berger Chocolate model, now a part of Harry & David — was a winemaker, and the model that bears his title continues to be round, producing a few of California’s best-quality glowing wines.
We just lately acquired a pair of latest releases from the Mendocino-based operation — each non-vintage — that might each make glorious additions to your vacation desk.
NV Scharffenberger Brut Excellence Mendocino County – 60% chardonnay, 40% pinot noir. Very dry, crisp, and palate-cleansing, this approachable wine sees a nostril of recent lilacs and honeysuckle, melding superbly with a palate of honeydew, guava, and spiced apples — all flippantly bready, with a well-integrated yeastiness. There’s a wholesome be aware of vanilla custard on the end, however the wine is so dry — and outfit with saline notes — that it by no means comes throughout as candy. A average stage of bubbles offers the wine a creamy high quality that is still cleaning from begin to end, the place echoes of melon await. Superb worth for this type of complexity. A- / $24
NV Scharffenberger Rose Mendocino County – 55% chardonnay, 45% pinot noir. Think about the Brut Excellence, however poured via a filter of lilacs, hibiscus, and strawberry, giving the wine simply the lightest trace of flowers and fruit. Once more fairly creamy because the end builds, with a robust vanilla character, ending on a brighter citrus be aware, that includes lemon curd. Right here the fizz feels much more refined and silky, soothing the palate and dealing completely as a tipple to take pleasure in between programs. A- / $30
NV Scharffenberger Brut Excellence Mendocino County
$24
