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Get Stuffed - Warm days, cool chardonnays

The old favourite makes a new wave comeback

I know everyone is drinking red, but do you really think a tannic cabernet and oysters is the way to go? Merlot and a Cobb salad doesn’t do it for me, nor does halibut and shiraz. Yet everywhere I look, consumers are drinking red wine with just about anything.

Just because the rest of the world has gone mad over red wine doesn’t mean you have to drink your favourite chardonnay in the closet. With summer and warmer weather on the way, white wine is the answer to keeping cool and who knows, maybe by drinking what others aren’t, you could become a trendsetter.

No doubt the red wine pendulum will swing back into the white zone soon enough, but why wait? White wine is cooler than ever and the perfect chardonnay, maybe with a screwcap, could make you look like a Whistler wine whiz in short order.

Oh sure, the trade types are always mumbling about the ABC or "anything but chardonnay" wines, and riesling is deservedly gaining renewed respect along with viognier and grüner veltliner. But it’s the new crisp, fresh, cool-climate, less-oaked chardonnays that are about to bring this white wine back to prime time.

For the unaware, we simply know so much more today about growing white wine grapes and turning then into wine than we did less than 20 years ago. In fact, most chardonnay made in the 1980s looks almost prehistoric alongside anything bottled today.

World-wide, chardonnay grapes have been pushed to the coolest, most marginal vineyard sites (in terms of weather). There, acidity and fruit are intensified long before the grape gets to the winery. With few exceptions, the grapes hang longer and in cooler conditions, delivering more intensely flavoured chardonnay fruit and more vibrant, mouth-watering acidity than ever before.

In short, chardonnay is fresher, crisper and more fun to drink, especially in tandem with the right food.

To illustrate just how broad a selection you can draw upon right now, I’ve selected 10 very different bottles available in restaurants, private wine shops and/or government liquor stores in your neighbourhood.

Ten Chardonnays you can count on

1. I’m guessing that Sicily doesn’t jump to mind as chardonnay country, but because it’s grown at 200 to 600 feet above sea level, the chardonnay fruit in the Planeta Chardonnay ($51) offers a bright citrus backbone that perfectly balances its guava/honey/crème brûlée and nutty flavours. Planeta Chardonnay is considered to be among the best Italian whites made at the moment due mostly to a renewed interest in serious wine by the dynamic younger generation of the Planeta family, led by Francesca and her brothers, Alessio and Santi. The Italians suggest you pair this wine with mushrooms and truffles, legumes soups and rich-flavoured fish.

2. At less than half the price of the Planeta, it is easy to be attracted to the Matua Settler Chardonnay ($19) from New Zealand. Settler is the poster boy for fresh clean, floral, mineral, citrus flavoured chardonnay and it comes topped with an easy to open screwcap. Sushi or halibut could be the match here, and you can enjoy it all while you discuss the pros and cons of screwcap wines.

3. Winemaker Thierry Boudinaud has travelled the world to make wines, but it was a wine from Languedoc that fired his imagination and that of his London-based partner, Guy Anderson. The year was 1996 and the pair were tasting new releases when a particular barrel of wine grabbed both Anderson and Boudinaud’s attention. The Frenchman reputedly declared "now zat iz what you call eh phet bast-ard."

Fat Bastard Chardonnay ($17) seems like an odd name for a new wave chardonnay, but when it’s French and they call it fat that’s news. It’s rich and a bit oily (always a good sign with chardonnay) with plenty of honey, spicy, orange peel and peach aromas. A fine match for grilled chicken and a great conversation piece.

4. Beringer is one of those California wine names totally linked to Napa Valley chardonnay but few would guess the Two Tone Farm Chardonnay ($25) is a Beringer wine given its fun packaging and screwcap finish. It gets even better when you twist the cap and taste its vanilla, butter, lee and spicy honey flavours and ripe pineapple finish. Despite the weight it’s quite suave and cool in the mouth with good acidity. New wave, New World… bring on the lobster.

5. Likely the most affordable, best-value, high-quality chardonnay in the market is the Casillero del Diablo Chardonnay ($12) from Casablanca, Chile. This is classic new wave South American chardonnay jammed with green apple, citrus, honey, baked pear flavours all finished with a touch of vanilla, butter and pineapple. Serve all summer with most any seafood dish and dare to be different.

6. Koonunga Hill Chardonnay ($15) is a Down Under white sourced from multiple districts with significant contributions from McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills. Cool pear/apple fruit with just a touch of oak is its signature. Creamy citrus fruit makes it just as much fun to sip as an aperitif but its best served with grilled chicken or prawns in a butter sauce. It’s fine value too.

7. Western Australian wine is way hip at the moment and Palandri Chardonnay ($20), sourced mostly out of the Margaret River region, delivers spicy, mineral, lemon oil and honey aromas mixed with toasted oak vanilla, butter, baked apple and citrus flavours. It’s a little old-style, like WA surfers, but the perfect tonic for homesick Whistler work-ies from Oz.

8. Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay ($27) is another example of new winemaking. Once considered fat and loaded with residual sugar the revamped K-J VR boasts cool coastal fruit from Carneros, Mendocino, Russian River and Monterey. Look for a mix of citrus butter, orange and honey aromas and flavours streaked with mineral and citrus rind. It’s delicious.

9. and 10. You would expect cool-climate B.C. chardonnay to make a contribution to my list and it does with two excellent wines. The Mission Hill Chardonnay Reserve ($18) jumps from the glass with green peach, butter and mineral flavours and pronounced acidity. Similarly, the Quails’ Gate Chardonnay Family Reserve ($21) offers enticing, ripe, peach/honey aromas and similarly lean mouth-watering flavours.

If Whistler goes white this summer it could be the fresh apple, pineapple, peach and melon fruit flavours of cool-climate chardonnay that lead the way. Of course, that means giving up red wine for a few months, but there’s always another winter around the corner.

Anthony Gismondi is a globetrotting wine writer who makes his home in West Vancouver, British Columbia. For more of his thoughts on wine log onto

www.gismondionwine.com