Are You a Self-Proclaimed Chardonnay Hater? This Piece Is for You

Chardonnay is one of the most widely planted and maligned white varietals on the planet. It stems from a cross between Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc, and the name comes from the hamlet of Chardonnay in the Mâconnais region of France. France and other regions in Europe traditionally name their wines for the region they come from, not the exact grape or varietal.

Because of this, so many wine drinkers don't realize that Chablis, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, and white Burgundy in general are, in fact, Chardonnay. Even Champagne gets in on the act — most Champagne is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier, and a Champagne labeled "Blanc de Blancs" is 100% Chardonnay. So if you've ever toasted a special occasion with a glass of bubbly, there's a good chance you were drinking Chardonnay and didn't even know it.

Chardonnay did not originate in California, as so many people think. Consumers may have encountered Chardonnay for the first time from California and don't realize it actually started in France. Because Americans — and more specifically winemakers in the 1960s and 1970s — wanted to emulate European culture, we co-opted many European products and traditions and tried to make them our own. Some of these copycats worked, and some just didn't. Enter Chardonnay.

California Chardonnay actually started out fairly lean and simple, aged in large, neutral redwood tanks. This is an oversized vessel used for storage and fermentation and does not add any flavor to the wine. Some pioneering winemakers, like Robert Mondavi, introduced small French oak barrels to the U.S., hoping to replicate the rich textures of Montrachet and other noted white Burgundy regions.

Along came Kendall-Jackson in the 1980s, discovering a massive untapped market that gravitated toward a richer, sweeter style of wine. How did they achieve this flavor profile? Barrel fermentation, malolactic fermentation, and what's called sur lie aging and bâtonnage.

Let's take a closer look at each.

Barrel fermentation became more popular in the 1980s and '90s because the fermenting juice is in direct contact with the oak of the barrel, giving the wine a more sturdy texture and boosting the flavor.

Malolactic fermentation is a secondary fermentation that happens during the winemaking process, converting tart malic acid into a creamier lactic acid — think milk or dairy products. This process also creates a compound called diacetyl, which is what gives the wine that smell and taste of movie-theater popcorn. Don't you just love chemistry?

Sur lie aging and bâtonnage happens when the wine sits in contact with spent yeast cells after fermentation. Those used-up yeast cells are called lees. The lees can simply sit on top of the wine, or they can be stirred into the wine on a regular basis. The more the lees are stirred, the more creamy, rich, and dough-like the finished wine becomes.

There was a craze in the United States, mostly stemming from California, that flooded the wine market with intense vanilla, toasted coconut, and buttery flavors in Chardonnay — relatively high in alcohol and using some or all of the methods described above. This lasted well into the 2000s, until a backlash started among consumers who became more exposed to other styles of winemaking and other white wine varieties.

Some dubbed this backlash "ABC" — Anything But Chardonnay. The heavy, over-extracted Chardonnay style had run its course for some wine drinkers, and definitely for some in the wine industry. As happens with trends, they rise fast like fire and eventually fall like dying flames.

As globalization took hold and consumers began traveling the world, the wine market started to change, giving wine drinkers more options to explore and enjoy. A more refined style of winemaking took hold in America, and the use of neutral oak, concrete eggs, or steel tanks became a preferred method for fermenting and aging wine.

Flavors of green apple and citrus, with crisp acidity, became sought after over the richer, heavier style mentioned above. Lighter alcohol levels were also valued over the 14.5%+ ABV versions of the past.

Chardonnay is like a blank canvas. Where it grows, how it's handled in the winemaking process, and how it's aged and bottled for the market all work together to create a wine that is either lean, citrusy, and mineral-driven, or tropical in flavor — or rich and textured with oak-driven notes.

There is no right or wrong here, just hopefully a better understanding that Chardonnay does not inherently taste buttery or oaky on its own. That's simply a style of making Chardonnay that adds those flavors along the way.

I promise you, you don't hate Chardonnay as much as you think you do. Every wine professional will shout this from the rooftops — there is a Chardonnay out there for everyone!

I've organized a few tastings in my shop where I select three white wines and cover the bottles with a brown paper bag. Customers taste all three, and they always like one, two, or all three of them. When I uncover the bottles, they discover they were all Chardonnay.

So here's my challenge to you: Organize your own blind tasting at home with a few friends. Pick up three different styles of Chardonnay — for example, an unoaked, stainless-steel version; a lightly oaked, sur-lie style; and a fuller-bodied, barrel-fermented bottling. Cover each bottle in foil or a paper bag and number them 1, 2, and 3 so no one knows which is which. Pour a small taste of each, and have everyone jot down notes on what they smell and taste — fruit, acidity, texture, any hint of oak or butter — and rank their favorite before the reveal. You can even throw in a wine from a different white varietal, like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, as a curveball to see if tasters can pick the Chardonnay out of the lineup.

Chances are, everyone will find at least one Chardonnay on the table that they genuinely enjoy. And that's the whole point — it was never really about hating the grape. It's about finding the style that's made for you.

We love Chardonnay at Wine Gallery 108, and we are ready to help you find the one you love, too!

SEE ALSO: “Do You Have Anything That’s Not Sweet?” — And Other Questions We Hear From Our Customers