We sampled the brand new release of Marcassin Chardonnay 2010 “Estate” bottling on May 16th. As always, we sampled this bottle blind (covered) and, not surprisingly, it dazzled, raising a few eyebrows on the tasting panel. Interestingly, our panel was the first entity in America to sample this coveted juice upon release and the only other published rating is from Robert Parker who sampled over 6 months ago and rated it 99 points.

Tasting Notes
On the road to Chardonnay nirvana, the 2010 Marcassin boasts a nearly flawless texture that is cashmere-like on the palate. Deftly combining a symphony of ripe tropical fruit flavors balanced by a sense of elegance normally associated with the best vintages of Corton Charlemagne (after a decade of cellaring). Scintillating hints of butterscotch and creamy pistachio nuts come alive on the dazzling finish that is still relatively restrained as of this writing. Aging potential for 5 – 7 years, peaking around 2019 in our estimate. That said, pop the cork on a bottle now and enjoy after decanting for a half hour.

2010 Marcassin vs. Prior Vintages?
We’ve been fortunate to sample the last 10 vintages of Marcassin and several members of our panel personally collect this renowned white wine. Hence, we have a depth of appreciation for and knowledge of this project. We judge this new 2010 release as one of the top 2 – 3 best upon release and surprisingly reminiscent of the 2009 vintage. We believe our 98+ rating could age gracefully into a 99+ grade in the next 4 years. Compared to the 2009 vintage, this 2010 is more tightly wound. The only ‘bad’ news about this release is that the production levels were about one half the amounts bottled in 2009 and, apparently, the news will only get worse with lower production for 2011 before the winery is predicted to get back to normal (micro) production for their 2012 vintage.

Comments on Robert Parker’s rating
To celebrate the arrival of this 2010, we sampled a bottle of the 2008 Marcassin Estate bottling, which we rated 99 points (Robert Parker awarded it 100 points). We must humbly confess that we were “wrong” and Parker was correct giving this wine a perfect rating. The glorious texture and mesmerizing complexity of perfectly balanced tropical fruits in that 2008 was stunning. We believe the 2008 Marcassin is one of the top 10 Chardonnay ever produced in California.

One word of note about Robert Parker’s published rating for this 2010 Marcassin: He writes that this Chardonnay “exhibits a serious liqueur of stones” which initially sounds humorous since, obviously, such a beverage doesn’t exist. Readers often ask us what these type of unique descriptive wine phrases mean. Our hypothesis in this case is that Parker is observing that Marcassin manages to capture an elegant minerality that is rarely found in California Chardonnay and is more often associated in the finest Corton Charlemagne or Mersault bottles we sample. One thing we love about sampling the finest wines on the planet is that the truly spectacular ones can inspire us to sometimes invent terminology beyond existing vocabulary, and that’s one of many great reasons why we love doing this!