Last week was a short work week because Hubby and I took the Friday before Memorial Day off for our biannual “shop ‘til you drop” adventure at the outlet malls. Even though it was a vacation day, it was still 8 hours of craziness! The whole point of going shopping the Friday before Memorial Day is to be able to take advantage of the amazing sales, but doing it before the crowds and before everything is picked over. To say that it was a successful excursion would be an understatement. I’m not sure which epitomizes the day best—the credit card company calling 1/3 of the way through the trip to make sure the card hadn’t been stolen, the 4 shopping bag “drop-off” trips to the car, or Hubby telling me that I was wearing my shirt inside out…30 minutes after I came out of the last dressing room. We arrived at the outlets early, took a 20-minute break for lunch and to rehydrate, and then were back to shopping until our feet couldn’t take any more. By the time we were done, all we wanted was a nice dinner…and of course a glass, or several glasses, of wine.

As soon as we walked into the condo, I put a bottle of the 2005 Robert Mondavi Chardonnay (vineyard, snooth) into the refrigerator to chill. We had to get all of the bags out of the car, and I knew I needed to make dinner before sitting down and relaxing, otherwise, it was going to be an order-delivery night. It was the perfect amount of time. The wine was well-chilled, with a beautiful pale gold color, and big, drippy legs. The wine had a nice, smooth complexity. On the nose, I found peach, green apples, and a touch of lime and coconut. In the mouth, there was buttery peach, green apples, and pineapple, with a touch of blossoms and honey. The wine was oaky and beautiful, with a well-balanced flavor.

Is this worth a glass after work? Definitely! If you see this wine in the store, grab it; you won’t be disappointed. At $17, if you like oaky chardonnays, you will love the 2005 Robert Mondavi Chardonnay. After our shopping adventure, we had tequila lime salmon for dinner, which was perfect with the chardonnay. Both were very flavorful, but neither dominated over the other. Once dinner was done, I poured myself another glass, as the wine was also delicious on it’s own, and just put my feet up to relax after a hot, exhausting day at the outlets. On night number 2 with the bottle,we had fettuccine alfredo, which was a good, smooth pairing, although it enhanced the oaky flavors.

Overall: 4 corks