America’s #1 varietal is finding renewed appreciation among Washington winemakers who are getting it right—and thirsty consumers eager to fall back in love again.
Chardonnay occupies an unusual place in the hearts and minds of U.S. consumers. On the one hand, many turn their nose up at the grape, so much so that there was a vocal ‘Anything But Chardonnay’ (ABC) movement a few years back. On the other hand, Chardonnay is (and has been for quite some time) the most consumed wine in the country by far, making up one out of every five bottles purchased.
Here in Washington, Chardonnay has long been at or near the top in terms of production. Still, one never hears mention of Washington Chardonnay the way one does, say, California Chardonnay or white Burgundy. Lately, however, an increasing number of the state’s winemakers are determined to change this, and consumers also seem to be showing a renewed appreciation of the grape.
Rick Small of Woodward Canyon Winery in the Walla Walla Valley has been making Chardonnay since he was a home winemaker in the 1970s and has long been championing the variety in the state. “I fell in love with Chardonnay—or more accurately white Burgundy—after tasting a Montrachet by Domaine Ramonet in the mid-seventies,” he says. “It was minerally and subtle with elegant fruit, oak and was very sexy. This wine was a game changer.”
Small has seen Chardonnay’s undulation in styles over the years; something he says has contributed to some consumer misgivings. “The styles have been all over the map,” Small says. “From stylish, subtle, and elegant to heavy, woody and alcoholic.” He says of Woodward Canyon’s Chardonnay, “I want the fruit to be elegant and restrained and the place where the grapes came from to show.”
Mike Januik of Januik Winery and Novelty Hill in Woodinville has been making wine in Washington since the 1980s. He said of the ABC movement and the heavily oaked wines that led to the rise of stainless steel chardonnays, “I think there was a backlash because there were Chardonnays that for a long time were just overdone.” Januik points out, however, that foregoing French oak and aging in stainless steel isn’t the answer.
“Just because something is overdone doesn’t mean you throw out the whole idea of making the wine in a certain way,” he says. Januik gave white Burgundy as an example of oak usage. “The really well made ones, those wines, for the most part, are done in oak barrels,” he says. “Personally, I don’t want to taste any wood character at all. But I do want to taste the creaminess that I associate with a well made French oak barrel.”
John Abbott at Abeja in the Walla Walla Valley says that, in addition to oak usage, site selection significantly affects the quality and style of Chardonnay.
“Chardonnay can grow in a lot of different areas and make an average wine,” he says. “But it needs to be in just the right site to make a great wine.” Abbott focuses on cooler locations that have a large fluctuation between daytime highs and nighttime lows. “In those areas, you get the wonderful kind of fruitiness but also the mineral and acid structure that is the classic piece of Chardonnay,” he says.
Brennon Leighton of Charles Smith Wines agrees that site selection is critical. “We look for sites that are higher elevation and that have a lot of limestone and silica soils to help create that minerality,” he says. Leighton says of higher elevation sites, “They give you ripening later in the season and longer hang times. They also help retain acidity and keep alcohols low.”
Leighton has been working with Charles Smith on a new project, Sixto, which focuses on producing high-end Chardonnay. The goal is nothing short of a Chardonnay revival. “Chardonnay in the U.S. became a caricature of itself where the wines were just this buttery, oaky mess with no fruit character,” Leighton says. “We’re trying to bring it back to that pure sense of what Chardonnay is all about.”
Chris Gorman of Gorman Winery in Woodinville also recently started a Chardonnay-focused project called Ashan Cellars. At the winery, Gorman makes the full range of styles on the market today, employing fermenting and aging that ranges from stainless steel to neutral oak and all the way up to 100 percent new French.
“Chardonnay has a lot of faces and I enjoy seeing those faces,” Gorman says. “I think they all have a place. It’s like music. Some music fits in better at different times. I don’t love jazz but I get it and sometimes it sounds good. Likewise you can’t always listen to metal.”
Gorman noted that food pairing significantly affects how appropriate a particular style is. “If you’re going to sit on the patio and have grilled shrimp, by all means buy Domaine Drouhin Chablis and it will be delicious,” he says. “But take that lobster and slather it with butter and maybe Kongsgaard or Aubert is your wine.”
Gorman said there definitely has been a renewed appreciation of Chardonnay of late. “I’m scrambling to keep up with demand,” he says. In the tasting room, Gorman has also seen people’s opinions changing. “A lot of the time we have to twist people’s arms to even try Chardonnay—even people who like white wine!” he says. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say after trying our wine, ‘I don’t usually like Chardonnay but…’ ”
Kerry Shiels of Côte Bonneville and DuBrul Vineyard in the Yakima Valley agrees there has been a change in sentiment about Chardonnay. “We find ourselves selling out earlier and earlier every year,” she says. “There’s definitely a renewed interest in Chardonnay, but quality Chardonnay as opposed to just Chardonnay.”
Shiels said that Chardonnay’s versatility is part of the reason why many people are coming back to the grape and why so many more never left. “It’s great in the summertime with seafood and it’s also good in the winter with more hardy food,” she says. “There are so many different styles, and we’re finding more and more people appreciate the styles. People aren’t ashamed to like Chardonnay any more.”
Written by Sean P. Sullivan
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