Liberty School Chardonnay 2010, California
Cost: $11-13
What: The Liberty School wines are among the best values in the wine industry. While the Cabernet Sauvignon has been a standard for many years, I particularly like the Chardonnay because it is so fresh and lively.
It’s difficult to find a Chardonnay this good at this price. It starts with a brilliant pale lemon color in the glass, with citrus and apple aromas. By blending wine fermented in oak with wine aged in stainless steel, you get a great combination of crisp, clean acidity with a touch of lushness.
The initial flavors are apples, limes and butterscotch followed by a long, creamy finish
with a touch of pineapple.
The wine is 94% Chardonnay and 6% Viognier. 75% of the wine is barrel fermented in both American and French oak barrels, 10% of which are new. The other 25% is aged in stainless steel. Primary blending occurs after six months and then the wine rests in tanks for another three months before bottling.
Serve this wine chilled, but not cold.
Winery: When the Hope family moved to Paso Robles in 1978 to grow grapes, they made farming quality fruit a top priority. They became one of a handful of pioneering families who helped shape the region that has gained widespread recognition for quality.
At first their fruit was bought mainly by wineries outside the region. Then in the early 1990s, the family began producing estate wines under the Hope Family Farms label. They decided that Paso Robles was better suited to produce bold red wines that can compete on an international level.
The Liberty School label and reputation for quality goes back decades. The wine was originally named by Charlie Wagner, who founded Caymus Vineyards in 1972. The family created the Liberty School label a few years later, and bottled Cabernet Sauvignon with excess fruit from Napa Valley that didn’t make it into Caymus Cabernet. Charlie Wagner had attended Liberty School as a child and later he and his wife built their new home using wood from the original school structure.
The Paso Robles region caught the attention of Charlie Wagner’s son Chuck as a source for good quality, value-priced Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The Wagners met the Hopes in the 1980s and the Hopes became the primary growers for Liberty School.
When Chuck Hope and his family became the wine’s primary growers in the late 1980s, they helped provide a sense of place and a new home to the label in Paso Robles. The Hopes acquired the label in 1996. Chuck’s son Austin is president and winemaker of Hope Family Farms, and buys fruit from more than 50 family-owned and operated vineyards in the region.
Liberty school later added Chardonnay and Cuvee to the Cabernet.
The Hopes’ other high quality labels are Austin Hope, Treana, Candor and Troublemaker.
Goes with: I enjoyed this wine with a rotisserie chicken made with herbs. It also would go well with grilled white fish, veal piccata, salmon, turkey or just sipping by the fire.
