Chardonnay

It's so funny because I like heavy, oaky reds, but not Chardonnays, which is why I'm not so sure the oak is what I don't like about them. I have a close friend who shares my passion for wines, probably more then I, and he's the one who keeps telling me it's the oakiness that I don't like. He's probably right, but I would never admit it to his face.

I remember many years ago I was touring a winery in Napa or Sonoma and they were harvesting the grapes and the tour guide grabbed a bunch of Chardonnay grapes from the bin and passed them out to the tour. It's a wonderful grape before they make wine out of it. Then I don't care for it all that much.

I'll give it a try... $30 is certainly in my price range, as is the $20 for the ones I saw yesterday, but hate to throw away good money on bad wine, not that I never have. Thanks for the tips.

KE

My favorite Chard is from California. Its quite expensive and does not use malloactic fermentation and there is no wood taste.

Its an old winery called El Molino. The label is ugly but dates back to the

This is one powerful Chard. Increidble stuff. Very allocated as only 900 cases are made.

I thought there was a whole subset of Chardonnay wines from CA that aren't oaked. Maybe you should try one of those?

"King Edward" skrev i melding news:OqLAf.77137$4l5.67845@dukeread05...

Afaik, there used to be a peculiar American/Californian style of making Chardonnays, mixing the wine with oak chips or even liquid oak (possibly an European urban legend) :-) I'm quite sure you'll find wines from other countries to be more balanced with respect to oakiness - try a Chablis premier Cru wine from France with a flinty minerality,for instance , or an Australian Chardonnay if you go for the tropical fruit taste. Anders

It's probably the oakiness that you don't like.... for American, one of my favorites (and pretty reasonably priced too) is Estancia Pinnacles. Slight amount of oak, but not nearly enough to overpower the nice tropical fruit.

Australians tend to be more American in style nowadays - that is, they too are generally over oaked. Can't think of any Aussie chards to recommend.

Less experience with Chilean Chards, but there is a nice Argentinan chardonnay that is not too oaky.... can't remember the exact name but it's Alamos or Los Alamos or something similar.

In my opinion, French burgundy's are your best bet.... try (as has been recommended) a Cru Chablis. William Fevre (spelling?) comes to mind.

Of course, IMHO the best way to avoid the oakiness of Chardonnay is to drink Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Verdelho, etc. :-)

Cheers, Gary

It may also be that a lot of American Chardonnay is put through a Malo Lactic fermentation (converts malic acid to lactic acid) which imparts the "Buttery" taste to the wine. Chardonnay is a grape that has less acid than most white varieties and therefore is more likely to undergo a natural Malo Lactic fermentation regardless of whether it is added or not. I think it is for this reason that a lot of winemakers perfer to go ahead and innoculate with Malo Lactic culture so they can control that which will probably occur naturally anyhow.

There is, however, a way to prevent this malo lactic fermentation and that is to increase the acidity prior to fermentation and to keep a close eye on it as the process continues so the pH does not get too high and create conditions right for malo lactic to occur. I am an amateur winemaker and when I make my own Chardonnay I keep the pH below 3.5 and the free SO2 levels around the 50ppm range. I also use no oak and ferment in glass carboys (the industry uses stainless steel for their unoaked wines) This results in a very dry, crisp Chardonnay that allows the fruit flavor to come through without being masked by oak or the "buttery" taste.

I think more and more people are coming around to the non oaked - non malo lactic Chardonnay and I expect more to be made in this manner. I can not tell you which wineries use this approach right now because I make almost all the wine I drink.

I love Rioja. I don't know if that's the oakiest red, but it's clearly oaky. I just don't like it in whites.

I feel the same way as you. I don't like butter or oak in whites. Oak in Reds is fine---in fact very nice.

There seems to be a style change here in the states away from the malo lactic (buttery) and over oaked whites. I am glad for this change.

"Richard Neidich" skrev i melding news:_6SAf.11417$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...

What? Are you glad for a change? Bring on the screwcaps!

:-) Anders

not that kind of change...I meant change for the better!!!

Screw Caps for whites would be OK.

Hi KE, Oz chardonnay has a history of being over oaked (and over alcohol) but there is trend away from this and many are now putting the fact that there is no oak used on the label, so look for them. Myself, not into oz white wine. Too much of those overblown showponies in the past has put me off. The oaked versions often had a grapefruit/pineapple flavour that just doesnt appeal.

cheers greybeard

I have never heard of oak adding a grapefruit / pinapple flavour - just the opposite.

Hi, Being an Australian, i hope my opinion isn't to biased.

Australia puts out a wide range of CHardonnays, ranging from heavily oaked to the unwooded. Goundreys Unwooded is probably your best bet, if you like the unwooded. However if you really want to drink a real Chardonnay, the Shaw & Smith M3 chardonnay is not a drop you can pass by.

However you may be limited in what is available overseas. Mostly Australia ships out its more.... lower range products. Hope it all helps.

Hi, Being an Australian, i hope my opinion isn't to biased.

Australia puts out a wide range of CHardonnays, ranging from heavily oaked to the unwooded. Goundreys Unwooded is probably your best bet, if you like the unwooded. However if you really want to drink a real Chardonnay, the Shaw & Smith M3 chardonnay is not a drop you can pass by.

However you may be limited in what is available overseas. Mostly Australia ships out its more.... lower range products. Hope it all helps.

There are so many great Chards from Southern Hemisphere growers/vintners (both Aussie as well as Chile..in the under $10 range, try Banrock Station (Au) crisp and smooth on the pallate, minimal wood influence. Carmen, from Chile is a bit more to chew, with barrel flavours and nicely round for bolder foods like creme sauces. Both uround $7. BIG Chardonnays from Australia tend to be very big and buttery, the biggest is Eileen Hardy Chardonnay at about $30. If you want to try a different style, go for a Western Australian Chardonnay (Wise is a good one) and you will see a bit of citrus. A nice twist is blends, such as Semillion-Chardonnay (50/50) rounding the harder Chardonnay with the smooth and subtle Semillon. Enjoy.

K> I'm not a big Chardonnay fan, especially U.S. Chardonnays, but like a good

There are so many great Chards from Southern Hemisphere growers/vintners (both Aussie as well as Chile..in the under $10 range, try Banrock Station (Au) crisp and smooth on the pallate, minimal wood influence. Carmen, from Chile is a bit more to chew, with barrel flavours and nicely round for bolder foods like creme sauces. Both uround $7. BIG Chardonnays from Australia tend to be very big and buttery, the biggest is Eileen Hardy Chardonnay at about $30. If you want to try a different style, go for a Western Australian Chardonnay (Wise is a good one) and you will see a bit of citrus. A nice twist is blends, such as Semillion-Chardonnay (50/50) rounding the harder Chardonnay with the smooth and subtle Semillon. Enjoy.

K> I'm not a big Chardonnay fan, especially U.S. Chardonnays, but like a good

OK, let's apply some kind of logic.

Assumption 1): Good corks are OK for white and red, they are OK for both the short and the long haul.

Assumption 2): Screw-caps are OK for whites; they behave like good corks.

I guess we can agree on both assumptions.

Question: What might be the rationale that screw-caps wouldn't be OK for reds?

M.

Not an answer to the question, just a random observation:

Have you noticed how people tend to put the screw cap back on the bottle even when intending to finish the bottle?

I've said to a few people "Why did you do that? You wouldn't put the cork back in?" - turns out they did not even realise they had done it, it is just habit to put screw caps back on bottles!

pk: