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The perfect grape for making wine

By the time you read this summer holidays will be but a distant dream. I hope you managed to find the sun and some interesting wines. Consumption of wine in Ireland, as we all know, has increased dramatically over the last five to 10 years presumably as a result of travel and new-found prosperity.

As skirt hem lines go up and down (for those who still wear skirts) according to some unwritten rule of fashion, so wine-drinking habits change without any particular reason. Although none of us likes to admit it, we are all influenced to a greater or lesser extent by advertising.

With wine the big marketing drives from Australia, New Zealand, South America and to a much lesser extent South Africa have certainly paid dividends for the producers.
Italian wine is becoming more popular again presumably because of travel and the French are fighting back. Spanish wines are making a comeback and German wines remain the province of the few.

Let’s talk a bit about one of the most famous, beautiful and ubiquitous grapes of all time, chardonnay. This grape is remarkable in a number of ways. Its origin is obscure but it is probably closely related to pinot noir according to DNA profiling from the University of California at Davis.

The ampelographers are still arguing about its provenance however. Chardonnay has a remarkable balance of fruit and acid making it the almost perfect grape for making wine. The grape does, however has a marked tendency to absorb the influences of the wine-making method and the area/country in which it is grown which, in turn, leads to a remarkable variety of taste in the final product.

Chardonnay has a marked tendency to mutate with over 400 distinct clones described. The clones vary in their length of ripening cycle, berry and cluster size and tendency to undergo malolactic fermentation. Again this clonal variation contributes to differences in taste.

In California, in the 1970s and the 80s planting was almost limited to two clones, UCD2A and 108. This meant the variations in regional terroir, the use of new or used barrels made a large difference to wines from different producers.

The best known and most expensive chardonnays come from Burgundy. Within Burgundy there are huge variations in taste and aging potential. Starting in the north, the wines from Chablis are renowned for their crisp, flinty taste and are Premier Cru Chablis is capable of significant aging.

Beware of cheap mass produced Chablis which can be tasteless and acidy. The 2005 stock is a superb vintage. A dry, warm summer, followed by some rain in early September and more warm dry weather for the harvest all contributed. 2006 was a difficult year in Burgundy but Chablis fared well and producers are happy with this vintage. The best value I have come across for 2006 Chablis is from Oddbins selection at about €15, really well made and a joy to drink.

Moving southwards into the Côte d’Or we get into the best areas for chardonnay in the world. The wines of Montrachet and Meursault are expensive and age well in bottle. However, for ordinary mortals, we usually concentrate our wine consumption to the area known as the Mâconnais.

This is the area just north of Beaujolais and without doubt its best known wines are from the Pouilly-Fuissé villages and St-Véran. These are in the medium price-range and are usually drunk while still young.

In general the clones of chardonnay in the Mâconnais tend towards malolactic fermentation and this gives these wines a ‘buttery’ or ‘fat’ taste which many of us, myself included, like very much. One of the best known villages is Mâcon-Lugny, thanks to a robust marketing campaign by Louis Latour.

There are many cooperatives (caves), in my view, making better wines than Latour. Dunnes Stores currently has two wines from Mâcon-Lugny, booth 2005, one from Louis Chavy at €7.99 and the second from L’Aurore at €11.99.

To my mind there is no comparison with the L’Aurore winning hands down. But buy a bottle of each and judge for yourself. One of the most famous vineyards is Les Charmes. This vineyard is known for its aged vines (some reputed to be 100 years old) and its exceptional southern exposure. This wine is available from Mitchells, Kildare St, The Mill Wine Cellar, Maynooth, booze.ie and Uncorked in Rathfarnham about €14.

Eric Asimov writing in the IHT describes the revitalisation of the Mâconnais region and the fact that many of the serious wine makers from further north have acquired vineyards in this area. The only other grapes grown in Burgundy for white wine are pinot blanc, sometimes blended with chardonnay and aligoté.

This grape makes bone-dry wines and should always be used in Kir as it counteracts the sweetness of the cassis. So let’s hear no more of the ABCs! We’ll talk about chardonnay from other countries some other time.

Happy drinking!
Ciao, Giovanni.

Posted in Wine on 21 September 2007
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