2005 Solaire Chardonnay

Rating: ♠ ♠ ♠ 1/2 

2005 Solaire Cabernet Sauvignon 

Rating: ♠ ♠  1/2 (Now), ♠ ♠ ♠ - ♠  (Later)

“Sunshine” wasn’t the first word that came to mind when we dipped into Robert Mondavi’s 2005 Solaire Chardonnay and 2005 Solaire Cabernet Sauvignon, but it quickly became the consensus. These samples had come in the mail a few days before, and we — my roommates and I — had chosen to taste them together over a dinner of heirloom tomato and mozzarella di buffula salad followed by a pasta bolognese.

We started with the white, of course, letting the bottle sit out of the fridge for a while so that it wouldn’t be too cold, and letting it breathe a few minutes. The Solaire Chard comes from Mondavi’s Bianchi Bench vineyards, on the southeast-facing slopes of the Santa Lucia Highlands, above the Salinas Valley. It’s a nice spot for Chardonnay, as it gets the classic cool morning sea-breeze and the hot afternoon sun.

The Solaire has potent nose for a white, with notes of hazelnut, pineapple and apple blossom. Holding it up to the light, you can see a slight greenish cast in the clear, bright yellow reflections. It offered a full, big feel in the mouth yet seemed a bit more austere than many of your typical oaky-buttery California Chards. With medium tannins but pretty high acidity, you can really feel the heat — it leaves a lingering tart at the back of the palate — although it becomes more lush as it opens up in the glass. 

“It’s like driving down the Highway 99 when all the orchards are in peak bloom,” said my room-mate, Alicia.

We gave it three spades for flavor but four spades for aroma, leaving the 2005 Solaire Chard with a more-than-respectable average of 3 1/2 spades.  

“Feel the heat…” is a phrase that could well describe the Solaire 2005 Cabernet Sauvingon in its current state. That heat started right away in the nose, with a spicy, cayenne pepper aroma with hints of almonds, cocoa and stone fruits, like Italian plum.

While the Chard comes from the Santa Lucia Highlands, the Cab gets its grapes from the Paso Robles area, which experiences a much wider range of temperatures during the growing season (50F in the evenings, often over 100F during summer days), with a little bit of San Lucas, in Monterey County, mixed in — although the 2005 summer was comparitively mild.

Never mind. This wine is all about the heat. It’s up front flavors are tart and chocolaty, but with a lot of fruit  — “If jam was hot and dry,” my roommate, Dave, noted.

“It numbs my lips like a fireball candy,” said Alicia.

The spice of our pasta bolonese was not optimal against the spice in the wine. At present the 2005 would probably go better with a blander but meat-rich meal, like prime rib. What it really complimented was our dessert of Charles chocolate with crisp rice.

This is a great buy-now, enjoy-later wine, as it could probably use another year or two in the bottle to smooth out its rough ages and mellow its hot-hot heat and spice. It should only improve with age.