In this video, Bob Paulinski, Master of Wine will discuss Chardonnay along with what drives the price differences between an entry level and top end artisanal wine. To illustrate the point included will be a tasting of two wines that represent the opposite ends of the scale.
The classic origins tie to Burgundy in France, although the modern-day reach for Chard includes most of the world’s wine producing countries. Globally, it’s hold only began to take shape over the last 50 years or so. It’s also one of the more adaptable varieties in terms of growing conditions, including climate and soil preferences. Unlike many grape varieties, it can produce relatively good wines at higher yields. It’s not one of the more aromatic wines when made in a no-frills approach, so it’s a bit of a blank canvas and the range of styles are as broad as any in the wine world.
Chardonnay can manifest itself with a wide range of fruit characteristics that in part are driven by the vineyard location. Cooler regions often result in more citrus notes, a bit warmer result in apple character, in progressively warmer sites nudge to pear, peach, papaya notes, then pineapple character is increasingly found in even warmer regions.
Acidity levels vary, being higher from cooler regions resulting in wines with a bright, fresh, brisk character, while those from warmer places tend to have lower acidity which imparts a more rounded impression on the palate. Cooler regions will often result in lower alcohol levels, warmer with higher. The spread with Chardonnay is broad, at the low end it’ll be around 11%, many being around 13% but with some bumping upwards of 15.
What are some key factors that drive price? Vineyard location is a vital consideration, as land is expensive in prime growing regions. Often, more specific vineyard locations will lead to premium price points and potentially a better wine. Aside from the cost of land, key considerations are vineyard yield, the age and health of the vines, vineyard management techniques, and climatic factors.
The low end of the spectrum is industrial or commodity winemaking with its no-frills approach, built for consistency from year to year and to hit a price point. This is usually highly mechanized in the vineyards and winemaking. Modern technology can speed up wine production but with sacrifices. The wines will lack a strong sense of place, often sourced from multiple vineyard sites and perhaps multiple regions as well. The place of origin can be as broad as a state like CA or even anywhere from within an entire country.
Even France, a country that’s largely built its reputation on terroir has embraced this approach at some level to be more globally competitive. An example is Vin de France, introduced in 2010, it’s the broadest labelling term, essentially wines from anywhere within France, including blends from various regions. Most are labelled by grape variety, at broad market pricing. In a few short years, it’s gone from zero to over 15% of the French wine exports. The next time you visit a store, take a look, VdF wines are spread far and wide.
At an artisanal level, the best versions of Chardonnay will reflect a distinctive character linked to a specific place of origin. Classic examples include Chablis, Meursault or Puligny Montrachet, Corton Charlemagne and Le Montrachet. All made from Chardonnay, yet they are clearly different from one another. New world wine producers follow along the same path with increasingly defined site-specific places of origin. This is not a guarantee of quality, but it’s often a key difference maker in terms of finding the most expressive wines that display a sense of place.
With artisan level wines, the grape growing routinely includes a higher level of manual labor and yield tends to be lower. There’s a higher degree of attention given to better ensure optimal fruit quality and maturity. Increasingly artisanal wine making embraces sustainable, organic or bio methods. Artisanal wines will generally not only reflect the place of origin, but vintage specific characteristics as well. Between the two extremes of commodity or industrial and artisanal winemaking is a vast area of gray that can play more to one side or the other.
In terms of winemaking, artisanal methods can be surprisingly low input, with a don’t mess things up sort of approach. But in other cases, a broad range of winemaking techniques will be used to bring out a range of character. It may include the use of grape skin contact with the juice, use of native yeasts, a range of fermentation temperatures, ML, lees contact and stirring along with minimal fining and filtration to name a few. The bottom line is traditional winemaking is often more labor intensive and cannot be hurried.
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