So says the title of an article written by Alder Yarrow on Jancis’ site. I don’t subscribe, so all I know is what’s in the headline.
It’s my opinion we are in the midst of a California Chardonnay Renaissance! I had zero Cali Chards (but lots of white burgs) a few years ago; now this might be the fastest growing part of my cellar. There are so many to love, well made, food friendly and delicious. Ceritas, Liquid Farm, Rhys, Copain, Mount Eden, Littorai, so many others…
I’m tempted to subscribe just to see what he’s saying.
I agree; there is so much fine Chardonnay out there, asl noted above (Liquid Farm is so exciting!) and I would add Talley, Varner, Ridge, Ramey,and Dehlinger to a not at all comprehensive list.
There’s plenty of good CA Chardonnay, it’s not that hard to find- starting with the great examples above. I haven’t read the article but it seems in line with the fashion of judging CA wine for the bad examples rather than the good ones.
I haven’t read/seen Alder’s article (I saw a pre-discussion)…but I believe his overall point (or part of it) is tho Alder agrees there’s a big increase in the amount of exciting high end Calif chardonnay, it’s still a tiny tiny portion of what’s out there and the vast majority is uninteresting.
I think these two quotations sum up his point (hopefully I’m not pulling too much from the page):
In truth, I have tasted more phenomenal California Chardonnay in the past three years than at any time in the last two decades. Nonetheless, this fact belies the reality that most California Chardonnay sucks.
it seems that the percentage of particularly lousy wine is much higher for Chardonnay than it is for Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and, yes, even Merlot.
I disagree with the second point. I think Chris is right; it’s not Chardonnay any more than any other major grape coming out of CA.
He goes on to talk about how the stereotypical style is still too widespread. Again, I disagree. It seems that almost every time a CA winemaker is showing me their Chardonnay, they’re talking about the more restrained style of their wine, and it’s true. The oak and ripeness have, in general, been dialed back quite a bit from years past. Of course, that style is still easy to find, but it isn’t as widespread as it used to be. I don’t know where Alder, a writer I respect, has come up with any of this stuff.
Huh? I’m finding more and more California producers making beautiful chardonnays that I actually find wanting to cellar to see how they behave with age. I think mediocre is everywhere but the curve is changing and the number improving their chards keeps going up.
I’m surprised to see everyone disagree. One thing to consider is that the Chard producers loved here are very, very small operations and still quite the minority in terms of style. Most of them are mailing list only. I’d certainly think that Cab and PN across the board have a larger percentage of quality wines. If you told me to walk into any wine store and pick a good cab, I probably could. A good CA chard? Maybe. They might have Mount Eden. Or they might only have different gradations of Rombauer in its myriad guises. I would hope that the success of these operations will cause a trickle-down effect though.
I’m fine with exuberance, it was the impossible-to-avoid residual oak that put me off the category for so long, but that seems to be changing a bit so I’m again a selective buyer.
I guess my default is to be skeptical of assertions that “most of X from Y sucks” regardless of what “X” and “Y” means. It seems to be very fashionable (and safe) to bash CA wines right now, so I am not really seeing anything new here. Give it five years, and the articles will be all about "I am so over Mencia or Cahors or Provence or whatever else is in style right now…
Or they might only have different gradations of Rombauer in its myriad guises.
Rombauer always seems to be the favorite punching bag when people are looking for the poster child for
buttery/butterscotchy/soft/fat/porky/underacid/loads of toasty oak/full M-L/alcoholic/over-the-top Calif Chard.
I happened to try the Rombauer Carneros Chardonnay ('12?) a few months ago at a tasting at Susan’s FW&S in SantaFe.
The Rombauer rep was there and I told him, to his face, that I’d like to try his Chard…the poster child for Calif Chard in
all its excesses. Only partly TFIC. Surprise…it had modest (though noticible) oak, spoke quietly of Carneros terroir, a nice
balanced acidity, forgot to check the alcohol level, and nice/bright melony Chard fruit. Not profound…but a Chard I could drink w/ pleasure at table.
So I would suggest that you all go out and buy a Rombauer Carneros Chard to try and…ohhhhhhh…I’m sorry…that might require
folks to throw away their pre-concieved notions about Rombauer and taste w/ an open mind. Silly me!!!
I think that’s great if they all dial down the oak and butter Tom. And admittedly I chose Rombauer as the stand in for that style. The last I tried was maybe three years ago at a tasting, and it was exactly what it’s been billed as around here. It does surprise me if they change the recipe much when it has served them that well though.
FWIW, it’s not just an issue of people not tasting with open mind as much as having only limited money and drinking opportunities to sample wines. There’s so much wine in any style to drink, that one might not sample the poster child of the opposite extreme unless encountered at a tasting or a party or something. Admittedly, I did use it as an example without having had it recently, but that usage was based upon past experience as well as reputation.
Well, keep in mind that California’s best Chardonnay is made by Charles Shaw.
From the article: "The Charles Shaw 2005 California chardonnay (yes, the $1.99 “Two Buck Chuck” made by Bronco Wine Company sold at Trader Joe’s) was judged Best Chardonnay from California at California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition.
The chardonnay received 98 points, a double gold, with accolades of Best of California and Best of Class."
I don’t know. The VAST majority CA Cab’s and PN’s at pretty much all price points taste extremely generic to me. I really don’t think the ratio is any different than it is with Chardonnay.
Plus, I haven’t had Mount Eden in a few years, but I remember their wines being exactly the over the top oak and ripeness style that the nerds are mostly against. Have they changed that much recently?
I guess in either case, it depends on your preferences and definitions. Frankly, though, I am surprised that you think CS and PN are generally any better than Chardonnay from California. So I guess we’re both surprised.
![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
