When it comes to Chardonnay lets just say I could be compared to a child at the dinner table, picky. Living in California where Chardonnay is abundant, so are the varying levels of quality and styles. My personal preference leans toward a couple of styles of Chardonnay and shys from a wine that taste like an over manipulated grape that came from grandma's house.

Now that I got that out of the way, I can say Amorosa Bella from the Russian River Valley is not your grandmas' Chardonnay. Scott Jordon of Cellars of Sonoma did a live stream video from Lake Tahoe tasting  the Amorosa Bella line-up with perfectly paired foods.

The nose was a great burst of lemon peel mixed with minerality. Fantastic bright acidity jumped on the palette, citrus, pear, and lemon. 25% barrel fermented that brought in some vanilla subtleties. They say some people taste different aspects and even some bottle variations. Last Tuesday night I was the lone taster on the live stream pulling subtle hints of grapefruit. 

The dynamics of the wine become synergistic once paired with suculent panko crusted chicken breast lightly glazed with an Asian garlic chile spice. The bright acids were ideal for this spicy dish that pushed this Amorosa Bella Chardonnay to another level. As these wines are such small artisan production levels, they are primarily available through Cellars of Sonoma on-line or in their tasting room. Retail $26 and a very solid value.