The ABCs and NBCs of Chardonnay

If you want to see a bunch of geeky wine lovers get agitated and raucous (think Revenge of the Nerds or a movie like that, …), just ask them, “what do you think about Chardonnay?”! This seemingly innocuous grape variety stirs up great passion amongst the wine drinking community, so what’s all the fuss about? And what do you need to know about this noble grape? Let’s do a deep dive on Chardonnay!

Ever since I started writing this blog a year-and-a-half ago, I wanted to do a series of deep dives on different grape varieties like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir to name a few. But I always struggled with how to capture the most important (and interesting!) information on each of these varieties in a few short blog posts, so I have put if off – until now!

I picked Chardonnay for my first deep-dive blog series because it’s a divisive grape that pits Chardonnay lovers and haters against each other – there seems to be no in-between, middle ground here. In fact, this controversial grape spawned an actual movement in the United States back in the late 1990’s called the Anything But Chardonnay, or ABC movement. Being a Chardonnay lover, I think there should also be a countermovement called the Nothing But Chardonnay, or NBC movement – that idea hasn’t taken off just yet but give it time! Sounds to me like there’s an interesting story to tell here, right? Let’s get right to it then!

Let’s start out by covering the basics – the five things you need to know about Chardonnay.

• Chardonnay is a white grape variety that’s extremely versatile – it can grow in both warm- and cool-climates, and can be made in many different styles, from steely and dry to rich and ripe. It’s also one of the primary grape varieties used to make Champagne and sparkling wine.

• The birthplace of Chardonnay is France and more specifically, the Burgundy region of France. But Chardonnay is grown across the globe, with the best wines being produced in France of course, but also the U.S., Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Of all the 8,000 plus grape varieties out there, Chardonnay is one of the most popular world-wide. It is the most planted wine-making variety of grape in the U.S. (with about 106,000 planted acres), and the fourth most planted wine-making variety world-wide (behind Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Tempranillo). In the U.S., it is tied with Cabernet Sauvignon as the grape variety with the most sales per year.

• The biggest controversy about Chardonnay these days centers on stylistic differences based on wine-making techniques, including the use of a secondary fermentation process called malolactic fermentation as well as the use of oak barrels to create a rich, ripe, buttery style of Chardonnay. Purists consider the overuse of these techniques as blasphemy, fundamentally changing the unique characteristics of the grape. Others believe these techniques greatly enhance and improve the taste of the grape in wine.

• While most Chardonnay-based wines are reasonably priced, some (especially those from the Burgundy region in France and more specifically from the Cote d’Or area of Burgundy) are highly allocated and can fetch outlandish prices. For example, some white Burgundy from this area sell for $6,000+ per bottle at release, and older vintages of these wines can go for over $20,000 per bottle at auction. A noble grape, indeed!!

Chardonnay is both Laurie’s and my favorite white wine. We drink it multiple times each week and enjoy it so much precisely because of the wide range of styles and different flavor profiles available from different bottlings of this grape. I think we are part of a small minority that actually enjoy and appreciate both extremes of this wine. Which brings us to the ABC movement I mentioned earlier.

The style of the Chardonnay you pour from the bottle is driven primarily by the climate in which it was grown (i.e., cold or warm weather climate), and the techniques used by the wine maker in the cellar to create the wine. Warmer climates usually produce riper grapes that result in more full-bodied wines with more fruit-forward characteristics, while colder climates produce less ripe grapes that result in leaner, more acidic wines. That’s the starting point for the wines – the wine makers then take these grapes and use different methods in the cellar to create a particular style of wine.

For Chardonnay, one of the primary methods used includes allowing or forcing a secondary fermentation that transforms malic acid (think about what you taste when you bite into a tart apple) into lactic acid (think about a more buttery, softer and smoother taste). This creates a richer, more full-bodied wine with less acid and a smoother mouthfeel (think about the sensation of cream vs. skim milk on your tongue).

Also, most Chardonnay spends some time aging in oak barrels before they are bottled and released. In addition to helping to concentrate the wine’s flavor, these barrels add flavor compounds such as oak, vanilla and spice to the mix, and also allow a small amount of oxygen to make contact with the juice which creates a smoother, silkier wine. The longer the wine spends in the barrel, the more pronounced these characteristics will become.

The use of these techniques resulted in wines that were bigger and richer in style, and that tasted more buttery and oaky. They became very popular with the wine-buying public, especially in the U.S. As these wines became more popular, many wine producers pushed their winemakers to do what they could to accentuate these characteristics in their Chardonnays, resulting in even bigger, fruit-forward wines with tons of rich ripe fruit and lots of oak and butter flavor on the finish. Some producers even used oak chips instead of barrels to speed up the process and get the most flavor possible out of the oak.

Those who didn’t like this trend argued that you couldn’t even taste the Chardonnay grape anymore, and these were flabby, over-ripe wines with no character and little to no redeeming value – they were an abomination and an insult to any respectable wine drinker. Thus began the Anything but Chardonnay, or ABC movement, and it continues to this day although over the past decade there has been a bit of a return to more restraint in the cellar and more bottlings of unoaked Chardonnays. Still, a quick perusal of the aisles of your local wine shop will show that the bigger, oaky style of Chardonnay is still in fashion. Last week I visited Total Wine and ran across the following Chardonnays (and this is just a small sampling!): Butter Knife, Heavenly Cream, Buttercream, Butternut, Cupcake Butterkissed, Bread and Butter, and Toasted Head.

In next week’s post, I’ll cover the key regions of the world producing the best Chardonnays so you can start developing a plan for exploring this fantastic wine on your own!