Wine Lesson No 8: Everything About Chardonnay (Part 2/2)

Everything About Chardonnay
How it's become responsible for the greatest names in white wine

Click here to read part 1

BECAUSE it interacts brilliantly with wood a lot of great Chardonnay wines are either matured or actually fermented in oak barrels. This gives the wine a charming buttery flavor and rich mouth-feel accented by aromas and flavors of vanilla.

Food pairing varies depending on the style of the Chardonnay wine.

At one end of the scale we have steely texture of a classic Chablis which sees little or no oak in its maturation.

It pairs well with dry shellfish like lobsters. A buttery, rich Chardonnay from California or Australia often weighs in at over 13.5% alcohol by volume - higher than the average red wine from Burgundy for comparison. These might be better off with sea bass, halibut, poultry and light cream sauce.

The overwhelming popularity of Chardonnay in the 80s and early part of the 90s brought about a backlash from these same wine lovers.

A movement called "ABC" which stands for Anything But Chardonnay ensued making it un-chic to order Chardonnay for a while.

To a large extent, the ABC repercussion was brought on by New-World wine-makers over-oaking their white wines to appeal to novice palates.

Wine palates felt exhausted by these excessively buttery white wines and sought refuge in other varietals that don't involve as much barrel ageing.

These wines offer a crispier feel and more freshness in their fruit flavors. The result is renewed popularity for Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Grigio. We will discuss them in due course.

It certainly won't hurt if you get started on your own by uncorking a good Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc) the next time you order a Pork or Poultry dish in a good restaurant.

Until then, there are lots of great Chardonnay wines to be savored. Have a glass of 1999 Meursault from Parent or for the very sophisticated palates, a 1988 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets from Camille Giroud. Life's not long enough for less interesting stuff, is it?

Next lesson: About PORT Wine

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Source: Wine Lesson No 8: Everything About Chardonnay (Part2/2)