Grape varieties characteristics - Chardonnay

3 important questions on Grape varieties characteristics - Chardonnay

Style of inexpensive Californian Chardonnay


  • Soft, easy-drinking style
  • medium acidity
  • sometimes slight residual sugar
  • often unoaked or made with oak alternatives

Style of premium California Chardonnay

  • Medium(+) to full body
  • pronounced flavours of peach and pineapple
  • secondary flavours from malo and new oak
  • more recently:
    • fresher, leaner style
      • less-ripe fruit characteristics (citrus fruits)
      • less overt new oak
  • some lees contact to give stuck match aromas from volatile sulfur compounds

Chardonnay in Russian River Valley, California

  • Medium/medium(+) body, medium(+) acidity with ripe peach and pineapple flavours and often creamy and spicy flavours from malolactic conversion and oak maturation.
  • good-ouststanding
  • mid-priced / super premium

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