The ramp up continues, heading into baked apples and cobbler fruits as well as tropical fruits, like pineapple.Ĭhardonnay tastes aren't limited to fruit flavors. Taking it up another notch of ripeness, Chardonnay delivers pear and yellow apple. Inching up the ripeness scale flavors like melon, peach and green apple turn up. Starting on the tangier end of the fruit spectrum, Chardonnay shows lemon and grapefruit. Chardonnay's Aroma and Flavor CharacteristicsĬhardonnay fruit flavors on their own can display a wide range of aromas. A Chardonnay wine palate can feel as feather light or memory foam dense as a range of pillows, but Chardonnay tends to be middling to weightier. This inherent texture allows Chardonnay to absorb the "work-out" of certain winemaking techniques (see below). Chardonnay gives generosity to the palate, which provides a buffering effect on to the grape's acidic backbone. Texture is the flesh of Chardonnay wines. This steely, structural strength is one of the reasons that Chardonnay can age so well. Geek alert: Chardonnay was born of a natural crossing of Pinot Noir with the now near-extinct Gouais Blanc at least four centuries ago.Īcidity is the backbone of Chardonnay wines. Chardonnay is close to reaching the top rung! Chardonnay's ArchitectureĬhardonnay's genetic composition gives it the architectural bandwidth to be the multifaceted grape that it is. Chardonnay percentages of global plantings continue to rise against the world's long-time white grape record holder: Spain's under-the-radar and home-bound Airèn, mostly destined for brandy production. And, Chardonnay vineyards are everywhere! Though originally hailing from France's Burgundy region, Chardonnay grapes are grown across the globe - in 41 countries at last count in 2017 by the International Organization of Wine and Vine - in an unbelievable array of climates, soils, altitudes and aspects.Ĭhardonnay wine has long been the favorite white of wine drinkers worldwide. Like all wines, every bottle of Chardonnay starts in the vineyard. Chardonnay's extraordinary geographic flexibility, structural anatomy and high tolerance for winemaking processes means that every Chardonnay tastes unique, even when oaked. Whether a Chardonnay tastes a little, a lot or not at all oaky, and it will also taste of other things. They can do this because Chardonnay is one of the most malleable white wine grapes. Winemakers craft Chardonnay in oak barrels to create additional flavor complexity and textural interest. Chardonnay is not picked off the vine tasting of these flavors! However, many wine lovers assume that Chardonnay is synonymous with "oaky" flavors because new oak barrels are frequently used to make Chardonnay wines. The most obvious way that oak barrels affect Chardonnay is by imparting oak-driven flavors, such as toast, spice and caramel. How do oak barrels affect Chardonnay? To take a line from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, "Let me count the ways."
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