Arzuaga Fan D.Oro Castilla y León Chardonnay 2022

Wow! The 2022 Arzuaga Fan D.Oro Castilla y León Chardonnay checks all of our boxes and plenty more. The 2022 Arzuaga Fan D.Oro Chardonnay is truly a world-class offering that puts many Old and New World Chardonnays to shame. Arrayed in a bright golden robe and endowed with a delicious complex aroma, it had us even before the first sip – and it didn’t let go. Notes of pineapple and pear with hints of buttered brioche and tantalizing spices grace the nose. In the mouth, the 2022 Fan D.Oro Chardonnay expands into a seamless flow of tropical fruits, pain grillé, roasted nuts, and lightly toasted oak, before exiting with refreshing acidity and minerality. Balanced and beautiful from start to finish, the 2022 Arzuaga Fan D.Oro Chardonnay is hard to beat. For optimal enjoyment, we suggest serving this world-class Chardonnay moderately chilled (40°-45° F). Anticipated maturity: 2024-2027. Enjoy!

Given its complex flavors and inherent balance, the 2022 Arzuaga Fan D.Oro Chardonnay merits a place at the most discerning tables, though it is equally gratifying on its own – a wine to savor all afternoon or evening. To double the pleasure, consider pairing Arzuaga’s world-class Chardonnay with steamed blue crabs, Alaskan king crab legs, or lobster in the company of drawn butter. Scallops in puffed pastry, poached salmon, stuffed Alaskan halibut, or nearly any white fish which is served with an herbed mayonnaise will offer superb companionship to the 2022 Arzuaga Fan D.Oro Chardonnay. Prince Edward Island Mussels in a creamy broth, New England Clam Chowder, and seafood dishes that rely upon butter or cream in their sauces also provide superb companionship to this wine and ample reason to pour another glass. Chicken Cordon Bleu and creamy cheese and mushroom risottos provide excellent companions, too. Moreover, a glass of the 2022 Fan D.Oro Chardonnay and a selection of soft or rindless semi-hard cheeses, such as Cheddar, Caerphilly, and Gruyere, afford a mouthwatering way to finish an evening. Enjoy!

Florentino Arzuaga, a visionary and a great lover of wine, purchased La Planta in Quintanilla de Onésimo in the heart of Ribera del Duero. Beginning in the early 1990s, he planted vines, built a winery in Valladolid, and began making quintessential Ribera del Duero. Today Arzuaga’s wines are reference points for the Ribera del Duero DO and La Planta, a center of wine education and wine tourism, including a 5-Star hotel. No wonder the New York Times cited Arzuaga and Ribera del Duero among the 52 destinations worldwide recommended to visit in their feature: “52 Places to Go in 2018.”

Quality is paramount at Arzuaga and the estate’s wines are based on three premises – the soil, the climate, and the orientation of the vineyards – yet what is most impressive about La Planta is the integration of local flora and fauna into the sprawling 3,500-acre estate to provide much needed biodiversity for La Planta’s 520 acres of vines. Holm oaks, pines, and juniper cover much of the estate and are home to dear, wild boar, and other indigenous fauna.

Arzuaga’s ecosystem provides the ideal environment for Ribera del Duero’s fabled Tempranillo grape variety as well as for Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. Arzuaga fashions a bevy of other excellent wines, including the winery’s flagship white wine and this month’s feature, the 2022 Arzuaga Fan D.Oro Chardonnay from the estate’s original La Planta vineyard in the heart of Ribera del Duero and Castilla y León.

Of all the world’s premium white varietals, Chardonnay is the most widely cultivated and its wine the most highly sought after on earth. Each year at harvest time, whether it be in its native France or in Lands Down Under, Chardonnay commands the highest prices and the most attention for its grapes. In tribute, Chardonnay produces the finest, most flavorful dry white wines in the world to which writers and connoisseurs devote countless columns and untold hours exalting its virtues and dissecting its flavors. Whether it be from Chablis or Champagne, Napa or Castilla y León, or from the most illustrious of vineyards perched atop the slopes of Corton and Montrachet, Chardonnay is the yardstick by which all other dry white wines have come to be measured.

From its origin in the Burgundy region of France, Chardonnay has traveled the length and breadth of France where it is planted in areas as diverse as Champagne, Alsace, the Jura and the high mountain valleys of the Alps, as well as the hot plains of Languedoc. Never content to be a homebody, Chardonnay found its way to Italy centuries ago, as well as Spain and Eastern Europe, before traveling the seven seas to Australia, Argentina, Chile, California, Japan, New York, New Zealand, and almost everywhere fine wine is made. Today, Chardonnay is produced on all continents, except Antarctica. In these varying locales, Chardonnay produces premium wine that reflects in every detail the soil and climate (terroir) in which it is grown.

Moreover, Chardonnay is a peerless match with food. In the company of seafood, Chablis-style Chardonnays provide superb complements and are in turn elevated by the union with fine fruits de mer. Fuller, fleshier Chardonnay wines, typified by the best Californian versions, can more than hold their own with more complex fare, rich cream sauces, and meats. Moreover, the finest Chardonnay wines the world over shine on their own, requiring nothing but a corkscrew and a glass to please the palate.