Ringing in the New Year with 2018 Kumeu River Coddington Chardonnay

There was no champagne in our household as we celebrated a laid back us-only New Year's dinner. My husband was prepared with two types of fish from our local fish monger, Sea Well. On New Year's Eve, he pan fried a Greek branzino and on New Year's he baked the black sea bass with roasted red peppers, artichoke and lemon for dinner. It is a delicious dish!

To pair with both the Greek branzino and black sea bass, my husband pulled out a 2018 Kumeu River Coddington Chardonnay. We first opened the Chardonnay on New Year's Eve and had it with the Greek branzino. I got a jolt of oak upon swirling and sniffing. To be honest, the oak was a little overpowering to begin with but as we tasted the wine with the fish, I perceived notes of lemon and butterscotch which was quite nice. There was a nice acidic finish which made it a good pairing with the fish.
We left half of the bottle of wine to sit overnight to see how it will taste on the following evening with the black sea bass. We poured the wine, swirled and I noted on rapid succession that the first whiff of oak transformed into a minerality and then to a lemony butterscotch! The wine had all of the aromas of yesterday but I could discern a bit more complexity on the second day. When I tasted it, it was just as delicious as the previous day but the finish, while still long was less sharply acidic. All in all a very nice wine.
Over the holidays, we watched a movie called "Wine and War" which is all about making wine in Israel during times of war and largely told by Serge Hochar of Chateau Musar. In part of the movie, he advises Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" that you cannot describe a wine with the first sip. You must let the wine evolve and that evolution of the bottle of wine could take hours. So, we are following Serge's advice and enjoying every sip of wine and it's evolution!