Chardonnay may be the most beloved white wine of them all. It can produce wines of quality almost anywhere in the world which goes some way to explaining its globe-trotting adventurism.
Grape growers and wineries also know that when you’re just starting your business, having Chardonnay on your land is an integral part of your projected cash flow. There’s a demand for it and it sells. Then, if it gets the right kind of critical attention, it also puts your winery (and even region) on the map.
Chardonnay is a crossing of Pinot Noir and a long forgotten grape known as Gouais Blanc and over the decades many clones of it have been developed for specific growing conditions around the world. Students and researchers of wine will be keen on the traits of these clones but you’ll have noticed that wine writers never talk of them, preferring to just focus on the varietal.
The most famous region for Chardonnay is of course Burgundy, France. Within Burgundy there are many sub-regions with single parcels of land to which are attributed specific terroir characteristics that are said to end up in your glass.
The science has advanced to the point that some vineyards claim to produce wines distinct from each other even if those parcels of land are just 10 metres apart.
Prices for even just “good” Burgundian Chardonnay can be prohibitive which is why areas such as Macon and Chablis have seen a rise in popularity. Not only are wines from these regions better than ever but they’re less expensive than their more famous counterparts such as Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet.
Mind you, if you’ve been enjoying wine for a long time, you’re as dismayed as I am that a proper Chablis in Ontario now starts at $40-$50. That’s the consolation prize of age: you’ll always have your memories.
Another part of the world that has become synonymous with Chardonnay is California. The bottle shock that reverberated around the world came at the hands of a British wine merchant, Steven Spurrier, and his American counterpart Patricia Gallagher.
In 1976 the two organized a taste-off in which California wines were pitted against benchmark French wines. It was a blind tasting in which 11 judges (nine of whom were French) eventually gave their verdict: both a red and a white from Napa Valley took top marks beating out the French contenders. It became known as the Judgement of Paris.
It was not something the wine world had expected but it put California on the map and soon wine collectors around the globe started seeking out these boutique bottlings.
This inevitably led to a surge in production and by the mid-80s California winemakers had discovered the “pleasures” to be uncovered in American white oak (quercus alba) barrels. With the heat of the California sun creating incredibly high levels of sugar in the grapes this also led to high alcohol in the wines.
Coupled with an overly enthusiastic oak exposure, this was a recipe that offered a new expression of wine for consumers. Red wines, with their higher tannins, generally took better to the oak but the Chardonnays were another matter.
They were very popular for some time but eventually the profile of these Chards became tiresome. Too much new oak in these wines resulted in excess vanilla character and tropical fruit notes like banana, coconut and pineapple with some referring to them as “vanilla milkshake” wines.
Today much has changed, especially at the top end. In California, the Chardonnays specifically tend to be more measured and elegant with some producers making efforts to keep down once-elevated alcohol levels. Some truly fabulous and still affordable wines are coming out of that state and hopefully, wine lovers in Canada can once again see those bottles on shelves.
There are however California producers that still make bank on the overly extracted style of Chardonnay. Two in particular come to mind and I make efforts in private to sound the alarm over these dreadful bottles. Not only are these wines not worth drinking, they've priced themselves in the premium plus category. Absolutely shameless.
We can’t leave out perhaps the world’s most famous wine region – Champagne. People are, understandably, under the impression that Chardonnay is a key grape in the production of Champagne but according to Wine Enthusiast, Chardonnay based Champagnes make up less than 5% of the category. Its inclusion is significant in adding freshness and acidity to Champagne.
An aside about Champagne: A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay is called a Blanc de Blancs (white of whites) while a Blanc de Noirs is a white Champagne made from the red grapes Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier. The other white grape occasionally used in Champagne is Pinot Blanc which is genetically related to both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
I’ll close with this final opinion: you don’t need to scour the world for truly great Chardonnay. We have it right here in Ontario by way of Niagara and Prince Edward County and I’ll be bringing more of these wines to Lookout Wine in the months ahead.
Our soils and climate tend to produce wines closer in style and expression to those of Europe and some of our best producers include: Mason Vineyard, Bachelder Niagara, Closson Chase and Rosehall Run.
So make it a quiet New Year’s resolution to pour a little more Ontario Chardonnay at dinner with friends. If they’re wine enthusiasts, they’ll be impressed by your sophistication.