Our Wine Of The Week is Laetitia Reserve Chardonnay California 2019, a very pleasant Chardonnay blend currently marketed on QVC. If you have previous experience buying wine on QVC, you might compare this Laetitia Reserve Chardonnay with Bertinelli Estates wines we reviewed in May 2018. Vintage Wine Estates (Santa Rosa, CA) has been acquiring mid-to-premium California wineries for several years and marketing several of their better brands on QVC, either in collections or individually under their various labels or with celebrity names like Valerie Bertinelli or Shark Tank‘s Kevin O’Leary.

The Laetitia Reserve Chardonnay is part of a 4-wine collection currently available from Vintage that I purchased on QVC on a daily special for $98 plus tax, which also comes with Pinot Noir from Swanson Vineyards (Napa Valley), Cabernet Sauvignon from B.R. Cohn (Sonoma County) and Moscato from Cosentino Winery (Napa Valley). Laetitia Vineyard & Winery is located in San Luis Obispo County, central California. The shipment includes 3 bottles of each varietal – 12 bottles total. Those are all solid brands and I should disclose that I was a wine club member at Swanson and B.R. Cohn prior to Vintage Wine Estates acquiring them (I am no longer a club member at either).

To focus on the Chardonnay – I like it and would buy it again. Wine descriptions provided by the vintner mention peach, nectarine and apple, my take includes butterscotch, vanilla and lemon grass. Slight minerality and a clean finish. Not at all oaky. Alcohol is 13%, normal for California Chardonnay. A nice sip with food, light hors d’oeuvres or a brilliant sunset. Current QVC price for this collection is about $120, making this Chardonnay a real bargain.

One last bit of disclosure – all these wines are labeled with “California” as their appellation of origin and are cellared and bottled in Hopland, California (Mendocino County), where VWE produces many different brands and private label wines. The specific sources of California grapes used to make the wine reviewed and the participation of wine making staff associated with brands on the labels is not provided. We’ll be sipping the other wines in this collection through the holidays and will share our notes then.

Cheers!

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