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Why is Chardonnay so Popular? “To oak or not to oak, that ....…” It’s summer, and we wanted to taste white wines. One of our regulars suggested Chardonnay, so we jumped in. Chardonnay is an immensely popular wine made around the world and it is often what is served when you order white wine. Our result was somewhat disappointing, but we did learn a lot about the grape and of course we had a wonderful time. It left us with a bigger question – why do so many people drink Chardonnay? The Chardonnay grape is forgiving for farmers to grow, and because it thrives in a wide range of conditions, it is grown all over the world. In California it is the most widely planted white grape. In France it is a key ingredient in Champagne and is the grape in Chablis. It can grow in cool damp conditions and in hot arid regions. Chardonnay wine can be full bodied and rich, or it can be syrupy and like drinking an oak barrel (the practical term I use is gacky.) People often taste oak and butter and vanilla in this wine, and those flavors can be a mixed blessing. Winemakers put Chardonnay through a process known as malolactic fermentation - by leaving the wines in the oak barrel the tartness becomes softer, and often a naturally occurring butter flavor occurs. Sometimes winemakers take shortcuts and add chemicals to achieve a similar effect, sometimes resulting in a wine that tastes like movie theatre popcorn. Additionally, the time spent on oak can mask other flavors and overwhelm the naturally occurring taste of the grapes. Two of the bottles we drank were made entirely without wood, and in our experience they were the favorites. Historically white wines were made with a slightly lower alcohol levels, 11% to 12%. The wines we sampled (with the exception of the French Burgundy) were all at much higher levels, ranging from 13% to 13.9%, similar to modern red wines. Because I like to drink wines for the flavor, I don’t care for this trend, because it means we have to be more careful about how much wine we drink. Impairment from too much alcohol reduces my ability to enjoy the subtleties of good wine. Our guests each brought a bottle of Chardonnay, $20 or less, from anywhere in the world. In the end we had two bottles from California, two from Washington, one bottle of White Burgundy, and a bottle from South Africa, which was the winner. Wines are tasted blind: guests arrive with their contribution, I take the bottle and wrap it in newspaper and remove the foil at the neck to prevent identification. Each bottle is identified with a necklace of a different color of yarn, and each table setting has an array of wine glasses with corresponding yarn tags. We pour a small amount of wine into each participant’s glass, sniff and swirl and sip and talk about it, and then repeat with the next wine. Because this is just for fun and we’re not experts, we’re not spitting the wine out, but we’re not drinking large amounts of it either. This approach encourages thoughtful consideration of each wine and a comparison between them. We often leave some of each wine in the glass so we can go back and compare. Here are the wines we tasted: Chateau St Michelle, Colombia Valley, Washington, 2005, 13.8%, $13. Ranked fifth, this wine tasted like butter from a popcorn machine combined with oak. We normally really like the wines from Chateau St Michelle, but this was a dud. It wasn’t bad, it was simply unimpressive. www.ste-michelle.com Murphy-Goode, Sonoma, California, 2005, 13.5%, $17.75. A classic California Chardonnay, with star fruit, strong oak and an artificial butter flavor. Several of us claim to dislike “oaky” wines, but this wine was well balanced. It was a well-crafted wine, but we still didn’t care for it. www.murphygoodewinery.com Four Vines Naked Chardonnay, 2005, Santa Barbara, California, 13.9%, $13. This wine is aged solely in stainless steel tanks, with no oak. Two of our guests had been drinking this wine all week, and ranked it #1. We tasted grapefruit and flowers. www.fourvines.com Domaine Trois Freres, Chardonnay, Burgundy, France 12%, 11.99. Ranked last by the group, simply uninteresting. A conversation began about how this wine would be excellent with steamed clams at a seaside restaurant, but it was difficult to enjoy standing alone. www.kysela.com Pine and Post, Colombia Valley, Washington, 2004, 13%, $6.95. Ranked #2 by nearly everyone (except two people who swapped first and second with the Louisvale). It has a rich golden color in the glass with a pleasant oakiness. At the unveiling, we were surprised to discover that this was by far the least expensive wine. Louisvale, Devon Valley, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2006, 13%, $10. For most of us the wines we tasted were unremarkable. Not so the Louisvale. It had a nice full body, round, with an aroma of straw and grapefruit. This wine is not aged in wood at all. Ranked #1 by the most of the group. www.louisvale.com I was surprised that a South African wine made top honors that evening. Wine has been produced in South Africa for over 400 years, but it hasn’t been until the last 15 years or so that high standard South African wine has become widely available. With the ending of apartheid and increased trade, the quality of wines available at reasonable prices is increasing. The fact that this wine was made without oak was interesting because they are choosing a nontraditional style to make a classic wine. I think they’ve succeeded admirably. Experts warn that foods can change the taste of wine. In my experience wine is best enjoyed in the company of good food. Our evening meal was duck but for the wine tasting we had a cheese course with a nice baguette. In fact, many people enjoy wine and cheese, so I feel this is a fair tasting. We ate local artisan cheeses and they were great. From Appleton Creamery, we had: Camden Bear, a goat cheese; Brebrie, a sheep cheese; Camella, another sheep cheese with herbs and edible flowers; Scarborough Fair, a Chevre rolled in parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme; and Georges Highland, a sheep milk cheese aged over 1 year that was remarkably close to Pecorino. We also had a sweetened chevre from another creamery rolled in flowers and nuts. Our main meal was duck and it was a truly memorable occasion. We had duck breasts, seared and served with a reduction sauce of red wine and dried cherries, duck confit, couscous with figs, apricots, dried cherries, broccolini with garlic, and a green salad of local fresh produce with locally made feta. We finished the meal with a luscious, light cheese cake served with mixed berries. I have changed the wine scoring sheet for this tasting. In general, I think wine scoring is just a guideline for thinking about and comparing wines. Our guests have asked for this structure repeatedly, and it does help to develop a vocabulary and taste for wines. One of the things that had been happening was people ranked one wine higher than the wine they actually preferred. This revised score sheet tries to incorporate more personal preferences. Give it a try and let me know what you think. So, why is chardonnay so popular? I think it’s because it has been so ubiquitous that it became synonymous with “a glass of white wine”. As a mass-produced white wine, chardonnay was sold for bulk rather than quality, and the public suffered. The wines we tasted were, I believe, generally well made, but we discovered we prefer other wines. Ultimately, for me wine tasting is about enjoying the people you are with and learning a bit about wine. We had fun, we learned a bit about chardonnay, and we decided that our next tasting will be Spanish Rioja (red, thank you.)
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