1998 Chardonnay Sonoma County

Dick Arrowood was excited about his '99 crop of wines, made from fruit harvested into the middle of November. He describes them as "worthy successors to the '94s, wines of great intensity and concentration but moderate alcohol levels. The whites," he adds, "are racier in '99 than in '94." Nineteen ninety-eight was a cooler, more difficult growing season, one that Arrowood, like a number of his colleagues, compares to 1993. My early survey of Arrowood's '98 cabernet, merlot and malbec turned up a set of wines without quite the middle-palate ripeness to support their tannins; I preferred both the merlot and the malbec to the cabernet, which came across as particularly green. Arrowood tends to blend and bottle his wines late; in fact, a few of the '97s were not yet in bottle at the time of my visit in early March.