The 2008 Chardonnay INOX is an unoaked wine with baking spice and apple aromas, a dry, crisp, vibrant mid-palate, good balance, and a lengthy, refreshing finish. Drink it over the next 2-3 years. With all of the attention focused on Willamette Valley’s Pinot Noirs, their excellent white wines often get overlooked. This is a shame because there is plenty of quality as well as superb value and no one is doing it better than Chehalem.Tel. (503) 538-4700; www.chehalemwines.com

INOX is Chehalem’s unoaked Chardonnay, and Chardonnay doesn’t get any more transparently fresh. Flavors of flower water, mineral, kiwi, lime, fennel and bracing minerality deliver pure pleasure. A great food wine.——P.G.(12/15/2009)—— 90