USA California Napa Valley Matthiasson Wines Steve Matthiasson
A few months ago, I was asked to respond to a reader who asked how you could pick out Californian Chardonnay in particular from American Chardonnay in general, when blind tasting. At its root, the question speaks to a broader understanding, or lack thereof, of the myriad growing conditions, terroir and style of Chardonnays being made in the geographically enormous and meteorologically, geologically and topographically diverse west coast US state of California. The place is massive, and so are the differences.
‘From my perspective,’ says Chantal Forthun, director of winemaking at Flowers Vineyards & Winery in the Sonoma Coast sub-region, ‘the remarkable nature of Chardonnay is its transparency to place and winemaking style. Given its thinner skins, Chardonnay purely translates the character of its site. This makes this variety as multifaceted as the places from which it originates.’
California Chardonnay is, of course, American Chardonnay. However, the wine style that was first made in the 1980s, rose to prominence and popularity in the 1990s, and can only be described as ‘buttery’, still lingers in the minds of wine consumers, if not now on their palates.
The style of wine, which often included very ripe fruit with almost no noticeable acidity, but full malolactic fermentation and ample new oak, resulted in mouth coating, viscous wines of an undeniable buttery character.
At their worst, they were flabby, one-dimensional and uninteresting; at their best, simply one-dimensional.
Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for 12 Californian Chardonnays
Chantal Forthun
Defining itself
That trend, however, does not define Chardonnay as a variety or the state it is grown in. Napa Valley wineries such as Chateau Montelena, Stony Hill and Smith-Madrone, for example, have long been considered historic among the valley’s Chardonnay producers, and they have never produced such an on-trend wine.
‘Our decision to acquire both the Haynes Vineyard and Stony Hill was due to our love for the great wines of the Côte de Beaune [in Burgundy]’, says Carlton McCoy MS, CEO of Lawrence Wine Estates. ‘With old, low-yielding vineyards, we can produce Chardonnay that rivals those wines, but through the lens of these two unique Napa sites.’
‘As I watch my peers,’ says Dan Petroski of Napa white wine producer Massican, ‘I am starting to see a new character of Chardonnay making inroads in recent years. I don’t want to simplify it by saying the wines are lower in alcohol, or just lighter and brighter, but the fact that Chardonnay has, in its DNA, the depth of flavour and structure (acid) to provide a complex and noteworthy white wine at 12% to 14% alcohol is what makes this new level of ripeness and focus.
A historic upstart
In a real sense, it was Chardonnay that put America, and in particular California, on the wine world’s radar. The 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay sits at the top of the list of America’s most important wines, as a result of its triumph over classic French Chardonnay wines in the celebrated Judgement of Paris tasting in 1976.
The 1973 Montelena was not a wine of great heritage – far from it. Montelena is a storied estate (dating to the 1880s), but one that had been abandoned since 1939, having been forsaken for more than three decades when the Barrett family took over in 1972. The Montelena estate vineyards were a hodgepodge of vines neglected since the 1930s. In 2014, Montelena disclosed sourcing on the iconic 1973 bottle (as reported on decanter.com, May 2016).
The Barretts revealed that the Chardonnay fruit for that vintage came from independent growers: 39% of the grapes from the Belle Terre Vineyard in Alexander Valley, 35% from the Bacigalupi Vineyard, Russian River Valley, 23% from the Hanna Vineyard in Oak Knoll near Napa and just 3% from Calistoga. The wine was a blend across both Sonoma and Napa appellations, without any…
Source : https://www.decanter.com.master.public.keystone-prod-eks-euw1.futureplc.engineering/premium/busting-myths-around-californian-chardonnay-536516/
