Looking for good chardonnay? 2002 is your year

Wine connoisseurs declared the 2002 vintage of chardonnays from the West Coast to be the best in decades. That means if you can't afford expensive wines, you can benefit from the trickle-down theory.

With great vintages, the best grapes are used for the most expensive wines. But with great vintages, the grapes left over for medium and lower priced wines will be extraordinary.

One way to look at it: Medium- and even lower-priced wines might have better grapes in a great year than expensive wines will have in a mediocre year.

What makes a great vintage? The climate had to have been right for the season, the grapes had to have been picked at the right time, and the wine maker had to have known how to take advantage of those conditions. For instance, France's 2000 vintage wines at popular prices (under $25) often were better than wines from the previous vintage costing twice as much.

For those looking for a good bottle of chardonnay for less than $10, 2002 is your year. Not every wine maker knew how to take advantage of this great vintage, but many did.

I asked the tasters to compare five wines under $10 from the 2002 vintage. This is what we found:

- 2002 Forest Glen Chardonnay at $9.99. The aroma was full of wood and ripe fruit, particularly pear, fig and melon. In the mouth, the wood was more pronounced, with melon following behind the wood. The Forest Glen had good body. On the finish, we tasted a bit of caramel. The Forest Glen finished first in our tasting.

- 2002 Smoking Loon Chardonnay at $9.99. This aroma was minerally and flabby, the latter meaning it was lacking acids and therefore smelled too creamy. There also was a hint of cardboard. In the mouth, we tasted pears and peaches, with hints of vanilla.

- 2002 Rex Goliath Giant 47-Pound Rooster Chardonnay at $7.99. The rooster in the name and on the label make for good conversation, but inside this bottle is a very good wine for the price. It had a pleasant, floral aroma, with notes of apples. The apples continued on the palate in what was a very dry wine. It had a short finish compared to the others. The Rex Goliath finished second in our tasting.

- 2002 Andretti Selections Chardonnay at $9.99. This wine had a Burgundy aroma, that is, minerally as opposed to fruity. In the mouth, we tasted apples and vanilla, balanced by nice acids. My tasters thought this was a juicy, drinkable wine.

- 2002 Carmenet Chardonnay at $9.99. This wine had a steely aroma that was slightly offensive at first but quickly blew off. The steeliness did not carry over into the taste. Instead, there was plenty of wood and citrus fruit. The flavors also reminded us tangerine rind and pears. This wine has finished well in national tastings. It was third in ours.

Questions can be sent to Frank Sutherland, editor, The Tennessean, 1100 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203 or e-mailed to editor