Love It or Loathe It, But Don’t Say Chardonnay’s Boring

The “Anything but Chardonnay” crowd says America’s favorite white grape variety is too oaky. They say it’s too high in alcohol. They say all Chardonnays taste alike. They say--and this really seems to be the crux of the argument--that there are too many Chardonnays, and they are bored with the grape.

Well, far be it from me to tell anyone what to drink, but I like Chardonnay, and I am not in the least bored with it.

That said, I agree that many Chardonnays are simply too oaky, tasting more like toasted wood and roasted vanilla beans than fruit. But I also find lots of Chardonnays that have plenty of fruit, balance and suppleness, where oak is used as a seasoning rather than as a crutch. And I do agree that many Chardonnays are so high in alcohol that they’re unpleasantly “hot.” But I also find plenty of very ripe Chardonnays that have enough fruit and flavor that high alcohol is not noticeable.

The Chardonnays discussed here cover a broad range of styles, illustrating why Chardonnay is loved and loathed by wine tasters. Many of them are wonderful, but my purpose in this review is not just to recommend wines, but to show how different Chardonnays can be. Not all these wines may be to everyone’s taste, but none of them is boring.

*1999 Baileyana Vineyards “Firepeak Vineyard,” Edna Valley, $27. This wine is a good place to start. Its first aroma delivers the creme brulee-like toasted creaminess of French oak barrels, but it is balanced by solid fruit. Balance is also the hallmark of the wine’s flavor, with ample acidity giving vitality to the fruit and a sense of reserve and tightness to the finish. This type of Chardonnay is neither over-oaked nor overripe, and for that reason it is refreshing to drink now and will age for several years. With a bit more fruit, this wine would have earned two stars.

2000 Benziger Family Winery, Carneros, $14. Oak is the major player in this wine too--not because it has spent more time in fancy barrels than other wines but because it’s basically short on fruit. The “Anything but Chardonnay” crowd would find fault with it for this, but the fact is, wines like this are made all over the world. Sometimes the problem isn’t that a winery has resorted to oak to create personality; the needed fruitiness has simply failed to show up.

* 2000 Flora Springs “Barrel-Fermented Reserve,” Napa Valley, $23. This is a different style of Chardonnay. It was aged in oak barrels along with the yeasts left over from the fermentation (the “lees”). This technique is called “sur lies” aging in French. It imparts a roasted grain character to the wine, which often fits nicely with the toasty notes from the barrel. This wine is decidedly “lees-influenced” in its roasted nut/roasted grain notes, but it also features tight, age-demanding fruit and an attractive mineral component.

* 2000 Geyser Peak Winery “Ricci Vineyard, Block Collection,” Carneros, $19. This wine, as well as the “Reserve” from the same winery that follows, provides a clear look at how oak can come to dominate when a wine’s fruit is not as forward as it needs to be. This is the better of the two because, even though the wood’s caramelized sweetness is a bit obvious, the appley fruit is juicy enough to balance it.

2000 Geyser Peak Winery “Reserve,” Alexander Valley, $21. In this wine, the toasty, charred-wood oakiness is excessive; it keeps the fruit in the background.

** 1999 Paul Hobbs Winery “Walker Station Vineyard,” Russian River Valley, $60. Winemaker Paul Hobbs is doing great things, and I like this wine even though it exemplifies almost everything the “ABC” group finds wrong with Chardonnay. It has immense oak and high ripeness, but they are buffered by plenty of juicy, appley fruit tinged with notes of stone and spice. There is a lot of heat in the finish when you taste it by itself, but with food it seems perfectly balanced.

* 1999 Paul Hobbs Winery “Cuvee Augustina, Richard Dinner Vineyard,” Sonoma Mountain, $75. This wine is simply an all-out display of unabashed ripeness and extreme oakiness. It is full, fat and mouth-coating in texture, and its evident heat warns that it should be served only with strongly flavored foods. The ABC crowd would rather drink water than taste this wine. I think they are missing a good thing, albeit a bit too much of a good thing.

$** 1999 Kunde Winery “Kinneybrook Vineyard,” Sonoma Valley, $20. This wine has the richness and depth of fruit to match the bracing acidity that sometimes bedevils Chardonnays of this vintage. As a result, the lavish oak, vanilla, roasted grain and sweet butter notes in the nose serve to spice the ripe fruit rather than dominate it. In the mouth, the wine’s obvious ripeness is equally well buffered by fruit and oak, and its lively acidity and firm structure would seem to ensure that it will grow even better with a few years of bottle aging.

2000 Sanford Winery, Santa Barbara County, $18. Firm acidity and hard-charging oak are two main points of this ripe and relatively spicy wine, but lacking anything more at its heart than a bit of tentative fruit, it comes up somewhat stiff and short. The result is that oak again is more evident than it ought to be.

$** 2000 Talley Vineyards “Oliver’s Vineyard,” Edna Valley, $18. Not only is this wine an extraordinary value, it illustrates perfectly why the “ABC” crowd is wrong in its blanket condemnation of California Chardonnay. Here the elements of ripe apples, toasty oak and suggestions of lees are harmoniously integrated in soaring, expansive aromas and are mirrored in the wine’s relatively deep, beautifully defined flavors. The wine is medium full-bodied and keenly balanced, with good acidity underlying its ripe, ever so slightly hot finish. But in the end, it is the fruit that lasts longest on the palate.