Less Oak, More Fruit
The Return of a great Chardonnay
In the twelve years since I have been a wine drinker I have never been a lover of Chardonnay. Even when it was the drink du jour I found it heavy and much preferred the light fruitiness of Sauvignon Blanc. So when Chardonnay began to fall out of favour with the increase in aromatics and reds produced in Marlborough I was not someone who bemoaned the fact.
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Every now and then you come across a chardy drinker who still remains loyal to their oaked, buttery favourite. It was one of these people that I found myself on a wine tour with last Monday. I nearly gasped when Melanie actually asked to try the Chardonnay at Nautilus Estate, our first stop of the day. There was nothing to fear however, as winemaker Brett was excited to have another Chardonnay drinker in his midst as he too admitted a fondness for it. So I decided to join them to give the varietal another chance at my taste buds.
I was pleasantly surprised, the word heavy could not be used to describe what I was tasting. It still had an oak flavour but it wasn’t overpowering like I had remembered it. Brett kindly explained that they were using less new oak barrels than what they did ten years ago to allow the quality of the fruit to show through. He admitted that a lot of visitors to the cellar door needed to be cajoled into trying it but it was quickly becoming one of their best sellers and was already winning medals.
To prove that this wasn’t a one off but rather that a “new” style of Chardonnay had been born, Melanie and I set about trying the Chardonnay at the next three stops on our tour – all in the name of research. There was variation between the level of oak and the fruit flavours that could be tasted but the Chardonnay at Rockferry, Seresin and Auntsfield were all delicious. This could be attested to by the need to share five bottles of wine between Melanie’s carry on bag and suitcase before her homeward journey because it was to hard too choose which ‘one’ to buy.
So next time when you are looking through a wine list or visiting a cellar door and you see a Marlborough Chardonnay – give it a second chance, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.