Time for ABC crowd to return to Chardonnay

Every year near the end of May, Chardonnay lovers around the world raise a glass in celebration of the noblest of noble white wine grapes as part of World Chardonnay Day, which this year takes place on Thursday.

Here in Canada, the festivities will look a little different as Chardonnays from south of the border will be largely absent from our glasses.

While Chardonnay’s provenance harkens back to the limestone soils of France’s Burgundy region — where the grape is made into crisp and complex white wines — it’s in California where the variety has taken the world by storm.

It all started nearly a half-century ago at the 1976 Judgment of Paris, a blind tasting by predominantly French judges where American and French producers squared off — and where California Chardonnay took the top spot (as well as third and fourth place), besting Burgundian examples and shocking the wine establishment.

Chardonnay from Napa Valley and Sonoma became the darlings of the wine world. And about 25 to 30 years ago, lower-priced entry-level Chard bearing the more overarching California designation brought the grape’s charms to a wider swath of wine lovers.

Often made in a super ripe and fleshy style, almost to the point of being sweet, these full-bodied California Chards are also aged in or with wood, be it new American oak barrels or in tanks filled with oak chips or staves, which impart big vanilla notes.

Chardonnay’s richer, creamier texture can also be ramped up by implementing malolactic fermentation, a process that takes place after alcoholic fermentation that sees the sharper, racier malic acid converted into softer, creamier lactic acid. It’s common among red wines, but only Chardonnay and a couple of other white wines typically undergo this process.

As the California style of big fruit, loads of oak and excessive malolactic fermentation in Chardonnay took off, producers in other countries moved towards making wines from the grape that mimicked that style, letting fruit hang on the vines longer for more ripeness, leaving the wine in new barrels for longer and implementing widespread malolactic fermentation.

It’s not a style for everyone and resulted in some backlash, with wine lovers opting for ABC — anything but Chardonnay.

While some mainstream producers continue to make these creamy fruit bombs, most Chardonnay producers in California and elsewhere have moved away from the style, opting for fresher, more lively fruit and more modest barrel aging — if there’s any wood used at all.

Winemakers in cooler-climate regions have embraced a more restrained, Burgundian style, while producers in warmer climates exercise more restraint in ripeness and oak levels and employ less malolactic fermentation.

With American Chardonnay largely absent from our store shelves right now, it’s a great chance for the ABC crowd to revisit the grape and discover the ways in which the winemaking style has evolved from the tropical butter bombs of old to today’s more elegant, balanced examples.

(Oh, and California Chardonnay lovers: Liquor Marts may have pulled American wines from their shelves, but some private wine stores still have stock they’re selling, which was ordered long before relations with our southern neighbours went south… but you didn’t hear it from me.)

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Wines of the week

LaPlaya 2024 Un-Oaked Chardonnay (Colchagua Valley, Chile — $15.11, Liquor Marts and beyond)

Aged in stainless steel for three months, this Chilean Chardonnay sees 35 per cent of the juice undergo malolactic fermentation.

It’s pale straw in colour and aromatically offers fresh peach and red apple notes along with hints of pineapple, mango and lemon candy. It’s dry and light-plus-bodied, retaining lively, lemony acidity that ramps up the fresh tree fruit and tropical notes before the modest, 12.5 per cent alcohol finish. A very good value. 3.5/5

(imageTagRigth)Salentein 2022 Reserve Chardonnay (Uco Valley, Argentina — $21.99, Liquor Marts and beyond)

Sourced from estate-owned vineyards planted between 1,300 and 1,500 metres above sea level, this Argentine Chardonnay is split 50-50 between stainless steel and oak barrels, with the latter portion undergoing malolactic fermentation.

It’s medium gold in colour and offers deep aromas of pineapple, mango, spiced apple and vanilla. On the dry, medium-plus bodied and slightly rich palate — thanks in part to six months of aging with the yeast cells, also known as aging on the lees — the flavour profile is rich and ripe, leading with tropical fruit, spiced apple and peach and structured by modest vanilla and spice notes from the wood.

At 13.5 per cent alcohol, the finish is long and lingering, while the acidity’s quite modest. Fans of richer, fleshier Chardonnay will find plenty to like. 4/5

Canadian wine of the week

Closson Chase 2021 The Brock Chardonnay (Niagara River, Ont. — $20, Liquor Marts and beyond)

Medium gold in colour, like the Salentein the juice here is split 50-50 between stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels, the latter portion having undergone malolactic fermentation. Aromatically the fresh pear, red apple and apricot notes are quite lovely, with subtle spice and an almost-saline note coming through as well.

It’s dry and light-plus-bodied, leading with ripe red apple, pear and peach flavours and complemented by spice and modest vanilla notes, with just a touch of acidity and, at 12 per cent alcohol, a brief and somewhat chalky finish. A lovely example of cooler-climate Chardonnay, and a steal at this price. 4.5/5

uncorked@mts.net

@bensigurdson