Louis Latour Ardeche Chardonnay

Wine: Louis Latour Ardeche Chardonnay

Grape: Chardonnay

Region: Coteaux de l'Ardeche, Southern France

Vintage: 2006

Price: $7.99

In the glass: Ardeche Chardonnay is a light golden-yellow color with a faint streak of chartreuse through the core, which displays a clean, clear, bright appearance, going out into a faint rim definition with medium viscosity.

On the nose: There is an immediate burst of chalky citrus fruit with hints of fresh vanilla beans, stone fruit, apple cobbler, faint oak references and toasted almonds.

On the palate: The wine appears well-matured and displays good fruit concentration on the front palate with underlying vanilla from oak, white fruit, perhaps even a slight hint of pineapple and then a good, solid balance between the acidity, which is marked, and the crisp buttery notes of barrel fermented chardonnay showing some nice pastry qualities. The finish is creamy and soft on the palate; although the presence of acidity is there, it never bothers the tongue. This is a good, solid chardonnay wine here with not too many complications for the taste buds.

Odds and ends: Ardeche Chardonnay comes from an area in the south of France that is normally known to produce rather rustic wines, primarily from red grape varietals such as grenache and mourvedre. There is certainly merit in producing an outstandingly drinkable white wine here and it bears some characteristics of the company's great ventures farther north in the heart of Burgundy, although it is a much simpler country-style wine. Many wines here are made in the simple fashion, using no oak to extract the maximum amount of fruit, but not this Ardeche. They go through the same vinification techniques as much more complex Burgundian chardonnays, using traditional oak barrel aging and the all-important malolactic fermentation, which is a secondary fermentation to the alcoholic fermentation. This wine is a great value. Ardeche Chardonnay should be chilled to about 53 degrees for consumption and should be drunk in the next year. Try it with some oven-baked cod.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.