What is it?
This tall and slender 375ml screw top can will easily fit into a cupholder. The screw top lid means that you can close it back up and put it back in the fridge to enjoy later, as the 375ml size is equivalent to half a bottle of wine and will probably get unpleasantly warm before you can finish.
This is a Chardonnay hailing from California and should, like all white wines, be fully chilled before enjoying. The 13.5% alcohol is quite, well, alcohol-y and will send you on your way to party mode in no time flat.
What’s good about it?
You might think you don’t like Chardonnay. And then I would say, ‘ok, well how about some Chablis, then?’. And you’d say ‘yes’ or ‘oh I looooooove Chablis’. Either because it sounds fancy and French and you want to try it or because you do indeed love Chablis.
Spoiler alert! Chablis IS Chardonnay. And it’s great.
But if you think you don’t like Chardonnay. It is because of wines like the Sterling Chardonnay here.
What does it taste like?
Chardonnay is often oaked. What does this mean? It means it is kept in oak barrels at some stage of its production to give it that, well, woody flavor (often described as buttery).
Now, a subtly and well-oaked Chardonnay will be gloriously smooth and creamy and comlex. However, cheaper wine is often given its flavor with oak staves or even an essence of oak producing a kind of clumsy, overpowering oak flavor.
And to this I say ‘no, thank you, next’.
So if you are like me in that you don’t like that overly woody, buttery flavour that is the trademark of inexpensive Chardonnay then skip this one.
What isn’t good about it?
If you are a Chardonnay lover, in all its varied forms, this wine isn’t disgusting. It is totally fine.
If you don’t like Chardonnay then this isn’t the place to start challenging that bias. You won’t like this wine.
Would I buy it again?
In a word, no.
Sterling Vineyards Chardonnay Quick Facts
- Price: $7 -$8, depending on tax
- Found at: Fine Wine and Good Spirits, 2040 Market St. Philadelphia, PA 1914
- Alcohol Content: 13.5%
- Rating: 3 out of 10 (the oakiness!! 🙁 )
- Type of wine: Chardonnay
- Container type: Screw top aluminum can
- Container size: 375ml
- Hails from: California
- Pairs well with: Licking an oak tree