Chardonnay - a noble grape

Our tour of grape varieties brings us to yet another of the so-called "noble" grape varieties - Chardonnay.

Chardonnay was first widely planted in the Burgundy region of France. This area is slightly to the east of the center of France and is a cool climate. A number of white Burgundies are world famous and can dent the pocketbook significantly.

The northernmost part of Burgundy is known as Chablis and these wines make crisp fruity whites that accompany shellfish beautifully.

Those of us who have been drinking wine for a while can recall inexpensive white wine from California being sold as Chablis.

These so-called Chablis wines rarely if ever contained any wine made from Chardonnay. This was and is an attempt to cash in on the fame of the French Chablis region.

The latest trade agreement between the U.S.A. and the European Union has French wine producers shaking their heads in dismay as the U.S. promises to "decrease" the use of terms like Chablis - to say nothing of Champagne.

Nothing breeds imitation like success and the Chardonnay grape is now planted worldwide.

Even though it originated in a cool climate Chardonnay has been planted in just about every imaginable climate - from too cold all the way to too hot. In cooler climates Chardonnay can produce wines that are very complex in flavor.

Tropical fruit flavors and bright acidity creates a very food friendly wine.

Planting Chardonnay in a warmer site creates a softer, easier drinking wine.

This is the Chardonnay that is served at many a cocktail party, the wine that starts off the evening.

Warm climate Chardonnay is also the wine that California winemaker's loved to play with as they could combine tropical fruit flavors with a buttery mouth feel (diacetyl, a fermentation by-product, can give any wine buttery flavors, but diacetyl is particularly noticeable in Chardonnay).

These buttery wines are often high in alcohol (14% or more) and as a final touch are aged in brand-new oak barrels.

A brief digression into oak barrels may be in order here. French coopers have been making barrels for generations.

After aging and air-drying the wood for several years the staves for the barrels are cut. Hoops are then put around one end of the staves.

To bring the other end of the staves together the wood needs to be softened so the staves can bend. This is traditionally done with the heat from a fire. As the staves are softening the fire is heating or "toasting" the inside of the barrel.

This toasting process brings out certain flavors, such as vanilla, in the wood. Thus putting wine into a new barrel extracts many of these caramelized wood flavors.

Part of the reason oak has emerged as the wood of choice for barrels is simply that it is the hardest wood that can still be bent.

Barrels were used more for transport than for storage in the old days. One wanted a barrel that could withstand hard knocks.

Over the years the Italians have used Chestnut and the Californians used redwood. Another reason for oak usage comes from the research of Dr. Williams in Australia.

In a comparison between the aromatic compounds in oak and those in Chardonnay he found many that were identical.

Many a Chardonnay is fermented and aged in new barrels.

This means that Chardonnay can range from a light, crisp, fruit forward style to a big, oak-flavored, buttery style.

There are fans of both styles and virtually every winery in Washington makes one or the other or something in between.

In the past the bigger style has been more popular but there is a trend at this time towards oak-free Chardonnays.