Earlier this fall I wrote a piece about Youngberg Hill. In 2019 they created Bailey Family Wines. It was a place we had visited years ago with a friend and tasting through the Pinot Noirs they had sent, I got a bit nostalgic. You can read that piece here Youngberg Hill – Reminiscing and Making New Memories with 2 Youngberg Hill Pinot Noirs.
Youngberg Hill is a beautiful property. They have a gorgeous Inn as well as an Event Center set within the vines. With the winery, they have 2 labels. One is the Youngberg Hill label, which those two beautiful Pinot Noirs fall under. The other is the Bailey Family Wine label.
*We received this wine as a media sample. No other compensation was received. All opinions are our own.*
Bailey Family Wines
Last year, in 2019 they created Bailey Family Wines. They had worked with their Youngberg Hill label to make the vineyard Organic Certified and are working toward Biodynamics, mostly looking out for the land and the soil and sourcing from other like-minded vineyards.
Bailey Family Wines focuses on exclusive wines from the 23 acres of vines on their Estate Vineyard. Of the 23 acres, 18 are planted to Pinot Noir, 2 ½ to Chardonnay, and 2 ½ to Pinot Gris. So this bottle of Estate Chardonnay is indeed rare.
Bailey Family 2017 Chardonnay
The Aspen block was planted with Pinot Grill in 2006. In 2014 they grafted over ½ of the black to Chardonnay Clones 75, 76, 95, and 548. The block is on Marine sediment and sits at between 500 and 600 feet.
The 2017 vintage was warm with an early bud break and a dry growing season. Then cooler temperatures gave great acidity and mineral notes as well as rich deep fruit at harvest.
This wine was aged for 8 months in neutral oak and they made just 229 cases, which are sold by allocation only.
100% Chardonnay 12.5% abv SRP $85
My notes:
This wine pours a pale lemon and has an intense nose of floral, crushed gravel, citrus leaf, fresh herbs, citrus pith and zest, and Meyer lemon.
It is dry in my mouth with flavors of lemon pith, lemon thyme, and Meyer lemon with lifted floral notes.
I felt like I was standing in a citrus grove with scents of citrus flowers, fruit, leaves, and pith all at once.
This was round but bright. I would luxuriate in this wine for hours.
Roasted Chicken with root vegetables
Michael was on kitchen duty for this one with a meal from Sun Basket. The chicken breast was roasted with lemon juice and lemon zest which paired beautifully with the lemon notes in the wine. The roasted vegetables included golden beets, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. I was concerned about how the Brussels sprouts might pair, but they were lovely.
I think this wine might really sing with a creamy dish, it has great acid to cut through a creme sauce. It would also be great with homemade mac and cheese, like the smoked gouda and white cheddar one I recently made (link) or perhaps with a baked brie. Quite honestly, I think it would have been brilliant with grilled rainbow trout that we enjoyed with the Youngberg Pinot Noirs.
Cannolis with lemon curd crème
Michael bought cannoli molds back on Amazon Prime Day and it was evidently time to try them out. I was at first, an unwilling participant (I have a fear of hot oil). Nonetheless, we put these together and they worked! Most importantly, I came out unscathed by the hot oil! YAY!
We filled them in an unorthodox way with a lemon curd crème, that paired beautifully with the wine.
Sources and Resources
Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.
When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.
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