Busting myths around Californian Chardonnay

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.