When it comes to Chardonnays, I'm a picky girl. There aren't many that I like, but I've found that typically I enjoy Chardonnays from California's Russian River Valley, so when I received a bottle of Belvedere Russian River Valley Chardonnay Sonoma County 2005 (this was the other bottle included in the Gold Medal Wine Club membership), I was looking forward to trying it.

This wine also won several awards, including:

• Double Gold Medal - San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition , 2007
• Double Gold Medal - Sonoma County Harvest Fair, 2006
• Gold Medal - Grand Harvest Awards, 2006 & 2007
• Critics Gold Award - Critics Challenge International Wine Competition, 2006

The winery describes this Chardonnay:

Ripe fruit flavors of Bartlett pear, Macintosh apple and Meyer lemon offer substantial counterpoint to beautifully suggestive French oak components of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and hazelnut. The crisp acidity, so characteristic of the Russian River Valley, allows the flavors of this wine to linger long on the palate, which finish with a touch of crème

We didn't serve the Chardonnay with anything, but found it to be a delightful quaffing wine for a Sunday afternoon. The wine is a pale straw color and I smelled aromas of toasty almond, pear, and a bit of honeysuckle. This is a rather oaky chardonnay, but I thought the wood was gentle and pretty well-integrated. I didn't find much fruit on the palate, mostly spice with a bit of cream and butter at the end. It had a nice mouthfeel and a medium finish. Overall a nice Chardonnay for the price. Honestly, I think there are Chardonnays of equal or better quality for a little bit less. It didn't blow me over, but I would consider it a solid wine.