The Stake in the Ground

We were having dinner last night -- cod, potato and chorizo stew -- and drinking a bottle of the Silverado Vineyards "Vineburg" Chardonnay 2005, Carneros (about $30), an absolutely lovely, pure and eloquent expression of the grape. As we often do when we spend an hour or so with a bottle of wine, we talked about it, how it evolved in the glass, its virt…