In order to appreciate wine, it’s essential to understand the characteristics different grapes offer and how those characteristics should be expressed in wines. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz are all red grapes, but as wines their personalities are quite different.
Even when grown in different appellations and vinified using different techniques, a varietal wine always displays certain qualities, which are inherent in the grape’s personality.
Muscat should always be spicy, Sauvignon Blanc a touch herbal. Zinfandel is zesty, with pepper and wild berry flavours. Cabernet Sauvignon is marked by plum, currant and black cherry flavours and firm tannins. Understanding what a grape should be as a wine is fundamental, and knowing what a grape can achieve at its greatest is the essence of fine-wine appreciation.
This week let’s look at and understand what Chardonnay grapes have to offer and understand the characteristics of Chardonnay as a varietal.
Chardonnay (White Wine)
This is an amazingly versatile grape that grows well in a variety of locations throughout the world. In Burgundy, it is used for the exquisite whites, such as Montrachet, Meursault and Pouilly-Fuissè, and true Chablis; in Champagne it turns into Blanc de Blancs. Among the many other countries that have caught Chardonnay fever, Australia is especially strong.
Chardonnay first came to Australia in the 1920s but it didn’t become popular until the 1970s. It is planted in virtually every region and makes a wide variety of styles from light-bodied, crisp and un-oaked through to full-bodied, complex barrel matured versions. Premium Australian Chardonnay has evolved dramatically from the rich, ripe full flavoured versions of the late 1900s.
The sourcing of fruit from cooler climate areas combined with a more gentle touch with regards to oak use, lees contact and malolactic conversion has led to a more restrained balanced, age-worthy style. While there are many regions for top quality Chardonnay in Australia the areas with the best reputation at present are Margaret River, Yarra Valley, Adelaide Hills, Mornington Peninsula, Tasmania, Tumbarumba and Orange.
When well made, Chardonnay offers bold, ripe, rich and intense fruit flavours of apple, fig, melon, pear, peach, pineapple, lemon and grapefruit, along with spice, honey, butter, butterscotch and hazelnut flavors. Winemakers build more complexity into this easy-to-manipulate wine using common vinification techniques: barrel fermentation, sur lie aging during which the wine is left on its natural sediment, and malolactic fermentation (a process which converts tart malic acid to softer lactic acid).
No other white table wine benefits as much from oak aging or barrel fermentation. Chardonnay grapes have a fairly neutral flavour, and because they are usually crushed or pressed and not fermented with their skins the way red wines are, whatever flavours emerge from the grapse are extracted almost instantly after crushing.
Red wines that soak with their skins for days or weeks through fermentation extract their flavours quite differently.
Chardonnay’s popularity has also led to a huge market of ordinary wines, so there’s a broad range of quality to choose from in this varietal. There are a substantial number of Chardonnays, which can range from simple and off-dry to more complex and sophisticated. The region stated on the label, and often its price, are indicators of the level of quality.
Recommended Chardonnay’s
Wombat Hill Classic Reserve — South Eastern Australia
Food Match: This easy drinking wine is a versatile partner to a wide range of white meats, seafood and salads.
Foundstone Un-Oaked — South Eastern Australia
Food Match: The wine is best enjoyed with lightly fried fish, a new season vegetable stack or just as an aperitif.
Spee Wah Houseboat — Murray Darling Australia
Food Match: Roasted or grilled Poultry, Roast Pork, Pate / Terrines.
Bakers Row – Coonawarra Australia
Food Match: Chicken, Pork with cream sauce, Shrimp with cream sauce and Caribbean cuisine.
Watershed Un-Oaked — Margaret River, Western Australia
Food Match: Antipasto ,Asian, BBQ, Beef and a variety of cheeses.
Fiddlers Creek — Pyrenees Victoria, Australia
Food Match: Serve chilled with any seafood or chicken dishes.
Lone Kauri — Gisborne, New Zealand
Food Match: Especially good with chicken.
