Introduction to Chardonnay
Briefly Exploring the Regions, Styles and Character of Chardonnay
Jun 18, 2009
Possibly the most well know and widely drunk white wine grape variety, Chardonnay epitomises versatility by encompassing a verity of styles. Ranging from oak-heavy, ripe fruit focused and luscious wines like those from the heartland of Australia to the savoury, bone-dry, nutty wines of the Côte de Beaune and the steely piercing wines of Chablis. It is this adaptability that has made Chardonnay extremely popular with consumers and producers alike. Displaying a unique ability to reflect the soils and climate of where it is grown, Chardonnay can give a true expression of what the French refer to as Terroir.
Characteristics, Growth and Taste
Chardonnay shows a preference towards the cooler regions of the world, ripening early and carrying a good yield. Grape growers need to be careful though, as early flowering and bud break can make the variety susceptible to late season frost events. Thankfully, one of Chardonnay's many charms is that if bud death occurs following a frost, new secondary shoots will quickly push through, saving many a vintage from complete disaster.
Chardonnays broad flavour spectrum can range from the oaky side of hazelnuts, brioche, buttery, vanilla and nuts to the more unoaked flavours that often include, apples, pineapples, wets stones and elderflowers. The flavours that result are indicative of the climate, soil and wine making methods employed and is seen as a right of passage for most new winemakers. Chardonnay allows a wide variety of oenological options helping demonstrate many skills such as barrel fermentation, extended lees contact and secondary malolactic fermentation.
Old World Chardonnay, Burgundy, Chablis and Champagne
The spiritual home of Chardonnay is found on the narrow strip of vineyards that runs from Chagny to Dijon along the famous 'Route des Grands Crus'. In-particular, south of Beaune on what is commonly regarded as the Côte des Beaunes. Here the south-east inclination of the western edge of the Soane valley contains marly, free draining clays that promote good drainage and a steady consistent ripening period. Not always achieving optimal ripeness, burgundy is one of the few appellations within France to allow chapitlisation to increase the final alcohol level. Fiercely terroir based, the wines show a distinct variation depending on which village the grapes come from.
Included within the Burgundy region are the sub regions of the Mâcconais and Côte Chalonnaise which lie to the south of Chagny and extend down to Beaujolais. These wines tend to be fuller bodied, rely less on the influence of oak and bring riper flavours to fill out the fruit spectrum of the wine.
Situated on the route to Paris, to the north west of Dijon, is one of the coolest wine regions of France, Chablis. With this marginal climate the Kimmeridge soils, rich in limestone, clays and fossilised oyster shells, give rise to wines that display a wet stone, often flinty and steely dryness. Here the wines have a lot less oak treatment, less aromatics and a piercingly acute acidity.
One of the most celebrated Chardonnays from France's most northerly wine region which lies on the margins of where quality wine can be produced, Champagne. Associated with luxury and celebration, Champagne can combine three grape varieties, two of which are red grapes ( Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) and one white (Chardonnay). Chardonnay can be found in its entirety in the Blanc de Blancs where 100% Chardonnay can go onto produce an elegant, crisp and intense Champagne
Whist Chardonnay is predominately produced in France, some fine example can also be found in Austria, Switzerland and Italy.
New World Chardonnay, Australia, New Zealand and California
Walk into any wine shop nowadays and you're more likely to find Chardonnays from Australia, New Zealand, California and South America than from the classical regions of France. Combining larger vineyard plantings and the ability to use modern contemporary winemaking techniques, these producers have taken the traditional style and remoulded it to create there own unique expression of Chardonnay.
Australia became synonymous with the highly charged, high alcohol, oak-monster Chardonnays of the 1980's, from which many of the 'Anything But Chardonnay (ABC)' group of wine drinkers reacted to. Nowadays, Chardonnay production is much more precise. With some superb examples being produced in the cooler regions of the Adelaide Hills, Tasmania, Yarra Valley and the southern vineyards of Western Australia. The styles vary depending from where the winemaker takes their style from.
New Zealand's climate and soils are often looked upon enviously by Chardonnay producers world wide. They have the ability to balance good natural acidity against intense flavour and substantial alcohol levels. The north island regions such as Hawks Bay, Auckland and Gisborne produce a richer, fuller style, whilst the south island regions like Marlborough, Waipara, Canterbury and Central Otago focus on elegance, steely acidity and crisp freshness.
Grown in the right region, on the correct rootstock and with managed yields, California can produce some of the worlds finest examples of Chardonnay. Unfortunately, without this attention to detail, California can also be held responsible for mass produced, bland homogeneous Chardonnay with a touch of residual sugar, meant to appeal to the mass market. Focusing on the boutique and hand-crafted Chardonnays, many great examples can be found around Carneros, Sonoma and Anderson Valley. Here coastal fogs and cool ocean breezes give large diurnal variations in temperature and help keep the average temperatures down thus regulating the maturation of the grapes on the vine and extending the growing season.
