Chardonnay: The Top White in the World

The French have strict rules what grapes can be grown in each region and the Chardonnay grape is the only one allowed to be grown in Chablis, Burgundy.

In actuality, California is the top producer of the Chardonnay grape and it is this California production that has made Chardonnay the most popular of all the white wines. Chardonnay grapes are popular with the grower because of the high yield per acre and the wine is popular with the customer because Chardonnay wines can come in a wide range of tastes and the fact that Chardonnay is economically priced. Other leading producers of Chardonnay are Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Long Island, the Finger Lakes and the Niagara Peninsula Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

The type of soil and climate it is grown in and the way it is processed, fermented and aged all have effects on the way the Chardonnay will taste. Chardonnay is a grape that can grow in both cool and warm climates. When grown in a cool climate, the growing time is longer and the grape will have more subdued overtones. When it is grown in a warm climate, the wine, which in most cases will be dry, will have a fuller, more robust flavor, which can be semi-sweet or sour, with the taste of apple, tangerine, lemon, lime, melon, and oak. If it is fermented in new oak barrels or for too long in old ones, the oak will overpower the flavor.

Chardonnay from California will be low acid, rich and complex with a golden color, the aroma of toast, butter, ripe golden delicious apple and/or pineapple and a little on the sweet side. From Lake Erie it will be Gold to Amber in color with the aroma of honey, rosin, pine needles, cashew nut, coconut, tamarind, graham, quince and/or coffee . It will have an full bodied flavor that can be toffee, honey, marmite, coconut, apricot, dried orange peel and tamarind. From Long Island, it will have the color of straw or gold with an aroma of pineapple, peach, pear, cinnamon, buttery, toasty, resin, honey, orange peel, quince, lilac, pear, golden delicious apple, with flavors of tropical fruit, clove accents, toasty pineapple, baking spice and/or lime.

Chardonnay is a good match for poultry and seafood white creamy sauces and Veal and cheeses like Gruyere, Provolone, Bel Paese, Brick, Bucheron, mild Chedder, Cotija, Fresh Mozzarella, Humbolt Fog, Goat Cheese Cambozola, Panela, Smoked Gouda, Parmigiano- Reggiano and Brie and should be served at 48 degrees.

Sources:

Chardonnay Information

Wine and Cheese

Chardonnay Facts

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