Unoaked Chardonnay

Wednesday Sep 16th, 2009 64 Views Vine to Wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and on today’s program we are going to discuss the trend to the production of more “unoaked” Chardonnay.

I am never altogether certain what the intentions are when a winery is producing Chardonnay. For anyone who has tasted the fresh fruit you have to admit the final product seems in many cases to have lost the details like the subtleties of the fruit flavors and its’ perfume. I for one don’t get it and apparently I am not alone. The manipulation of Chardonnay via malolactic fermentation , sur lies aging, new and used oak barrels – whether French or America oak seem to have disguised Chardonnay and we no longer truly know what it tastes like. Well, I was heartened to read that the trend towards less manipulation of Chardonnay, especially that grown in cooler wine regions is taking hold. In fact, it is in demand. In places like France, Australia, New Zealand and

Canada

this has been common practice. Some wineries have made a big deal out of it, in some cases labeling the wine as unoaked or even “bare naked”. Now by tasting it I can say some of those wines still do some heavy manipulation in other ways – but the primary mask to the Chardonnay fruit, the oak, is not there. So while this phenomenon is in vogue why not look for Chardonnay that is crisp and clean with real fruit flavors. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at Vine to Wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.