Wow, you must be drinking the wrong ones. ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
Brian,
When you say “folks” are you talking about the general wine drinking public? Or those of us hanging out on an internet wine forum on a Friday night?
All I can say is 2010 Liquid Farm White Hill Chardonnay. I rest my case.
I would say that one of the reasons Chard is so popular is because it is so widely planted. If you want a white wine, but you’re not familiar with wine, and there are 50 different chard bottles and 3 or 5 of others, you’d likely choose the Chard. So is it popular among the general population because of Burgundy? Yes. But is that fact in the minds of the consumers at all? No ; they don’t even know that white burgundy (mostly) = Chard.
Perhaps because it’s a fantastic grape capable of producing stunning wines.
I’m in agreement that the majority of wine drinkers out there don’t equate Chardonnay to “White Burgundy”. It would be an interesting poll question for some non wine centric websites to ask though.
To those pointing out (correctly) that most chardonnay drinkers have no idea that chardonnay originates from Burgundy or what Burgundy even is other than the Gallo jug stuff and the last name of Will Ferrell’s anachronistic newsman – there probably is still some extent to which Chardonnay having been the major white grape of Burgundy plays a role in chardonnay’s prominence today.
It’s just an indirect connection – Burgundy made Chardonnay the world’s #1 white wine, pioneers in California and elsewhere planted Chardonnay for that reason, that helped entrench it from the outset as the top white wine, etc. etc. Similar to why Cabernet and Merlot are the top red wines – it goes right back to things like The Judgment of Paris.
As I’ve continued to explore and taste – and I’m really an adventurous wine lover sort, not a “I’ve found what I like and now I just drink that” type – after moving in early years towards the “ABC” idea, I’m coming back to an increasing percentage my whites being chardonnay. Having graduated past the idea that California chardonnay always tastes like Rombauer or Chalk Hill and half my white Burgs are oxidized, I’m finding more and more examples from California and around the world that really hit the sweet spot for me, and I find the best chardonnays generally (there are plenty of exceptions, of course, but speaking in the broadest terms) offer a more profound wine experience than most other whites, the latter being more likely for me a “because this fits the pairing” wine than a wine that really wows me.
Riesling remains in a steady holding pattern for me, though I really only love the aged ones, and the young ones are just too sweet and too much alike for me to love rather than like. Loire chenin blanc is way on the rise, though there aren’t that many labels available in the US. Bordeaux whites (usually sauv blanc) serve a role but and there are some that are better than just that (usually from the Loire or Bordeaux), but I don’t have those often. Pinot gris / grigio is occasionally better than passable (usually from Alsace), but I don’t seek it out. The 1,001 Italian white varietals are often quite nice while vacationing in Italy, occasionally nice as a crisp summer white here at home, but not something I look for more than rarely. I really dislike most Rhone whites other than grenache blanc (when grown in California but a handful of producers), though there is the rare great experience with an aged Beaucastel or something. And so forth through Spain, Australia, South America, etc.
Much respect for those who feel otherwise, though. There are as many ways to look at this as there are wine enthusiasts in the world.
[Clarification note: when I say that some of those varietals are only rarely better than passable, I don’t mean someone couldn’t list a bunch of wines in that category that are very good wines. I mean that, in my experience, with the frequency I encounter those wines, considering price and availability, etc., I only rarely have one that is a serious wine experience to me. If you go seek out the 20 best dry pinot gris from the world and drink those all the time, more power to you.]
Moreso the internet wine forum crowd.
But I think there’s interesting discussion to be had about both groups.
Not my opinion. (edited to clarify: I like Muscadet. In the whole post I’m repeating what I think are the opinions of people who reject that veriety).
I find the melon grape used to make Muscadet resists oxidation more than any other grape Ive ever encountered. For example, Ive left a half full bottle on the counter in a warm room for over a week and it didn’t oxidize. Ive probably tasted 30 or more different Muscadets over the years and Ive never encountered oxidation in one. Just my two cents.
Honestly, I think your might be confusing the sur lee autolysis character with oxidation.
I think Pinot Blanc would be the alternative. I don’t think PB would have ever become so popular as Chardonnay. Its varietal character is too distinctive and it doesn’t seem to be as easy to get an interesting wine out of it.
I think the leesy element can sometimes come across this way. Particularly for a palate that might not be prepared for such flavors.
I think so too. It can give some bitterness, as can oxidation, but the lees aging actually tends to encourage reduction, so oxidized sur lie Muscadet would surprise me.
I’m not really a fan of Muscadet either, but I can’t imagine too many people disliking the really good examples, such as Clos des Briords in most vintages, or Pepiere Clisson, or 1997 Luneau-Papin Le L d’Or (for current drinking). I’m sure there are some people out there who don’t even like those, though.
How did Chardonnay become so popular?
First, we forget that decades ago it was common to sell California wine with European place names, such as Haut Sauternes, Chablis,Rheinwein, Chianti. Even now the word Champagne is used. In the 19th century, perhaps before certain international agreements became law, wineries appropriated the names of actual wineries in Europe.
So is it a surprise that the most popular grape varieties here in California are the ones most famous in France? Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and now Pinot Noir. Zinfandel is the big exception.
When the big wine boom began in the late '60s/early '70s cabernet was the big favorite but then a white wine boom hit and chardonnay took off. Important to remember is the fact that Cab and Chardonnay do relatively well in many parts of California. Riesling (both American and German) tanked for a while and is only now regaining the strength it had in the marketplace in the '60 and '70s. Pinot Noir was a mystery pretty much unsolved in the '60s and early '70s. Syrah is still looking for its place in the marketplace.
Frank Woods, who started Clos du Bois, planted hundreds of acres of chardonnay in the early '70s. He told me that he figured everyone else was planting cab and that 1/people would want to drink something served cold and b/if he was wrong he would market the difference. He did ok.
Now it may be true that arneis or vermentino would be much better white varieties to plant here. Maybe barbera is the red variety best suited to California. I don’t know about that but I do know marketing chardonnay and cabernet is a lot easier than pimping barbera and vermentino.
About melon de bourgogne, the muscadet grape: Pierre Galet, the famous french amphelographer, discovered that much of the so-called pinot blanc being grown here in the mid 80s was actually melon de bourgogne. People can now sell the wine as Melon or as Pinot blanc.
Judging by those wines made back then, I would say that what resists oxidation is melon de bourgogne grown in a cold climate and treated with lots of SO2.
By “here” do you mean burgundy?
By here I meant California.
The only Pinot Blanc in California that aged well back then was made at Chalone…not from pinot blanc or melon but from some weird clone of chardonnay. Michaud (then the winemaker) then planted true pinot blanc he got from a clonal station in Italy.
Ironically, this is often given as a reason for Syrah’s relative failure in the marketplace as well.
Sometimes the fickle finger of fate makes decisions for us. Chardonnay hit big when the wine boom was beginning. Pinot Noir became the holy grail for winemakers, so when PN got good people cared. But Syrah came to the party late…just as nobody talks about a holy grail for nebbiolo.
Syrah is also caught btwn Australian Shiraz and Cotes du Rhone.
A friend of mine has what he calls the ‘big argument’ theory of wine sales: you make sales when you win the big argument.
Chardonnay and cabernet won the argument in 1976…Sideways helped Pinot make its case. With Syrah people planted it and assumed it would sell.
I suppose chocolate and vanilla make up a heavy percentage of ice cream sales…how many flavors can the wine biz support?
But this is also true of Cabernet, except for maybe on the cold-climate end. And Cabernet seems to be doing OK.
Tom