New Zealand Chardonnay

May 26th, 2011 is International Chardonnay Day, as designated by the gods of the Twittersphere, so we thought we would take the opportunity to write about NZ chardonnay in this newsletter. Now, if we were to sit down and write about Sauvignon Blanc for example, it's quite easy - Just take the keywords of "Marlborough" "Gooseberry" "Vibrant" "Grassy" "Herbaceous", add a few hundred words of filler, and there's your article. Turns out that New Zealand chardonnay is actually pretty difficult to define.

Defining New Zealand's Chardonnay Regions

Gisborne likes to lay claim to being the chardonnay capital of New Zealand, but every single winegrowing region across the country turns out excellent examples - in contrast to say sauvignon blanc which is easily defined as Marlborough (with a few exceptions). Arguably New Zealand's best chardonnay is made in Auckland, from the Kumeu River winery. A recent Cuising tasting gave Villa Maria the top billing for their Gisborne reserve label, but also had wines from Auckland, Hawkes Bay and Marlborough in the top 10. Craggy Range make a large number of excellent chardonnays, exclusively in the Hawkes Bay. Pegasus Bay and Black Estate make award-winning examples from Waipara, while countless Central Otago wineries also produce complex, structured wines in a cool-climate style.

So it makes it difficult to stylistically define chardonnay based solely on region. But we even have trouble defining a chardonnay style WITHIN a region eg "What does Gisborne chardonnay taste like compared to Hawkes Bay or Auckland". Broadly speaking there are some characteristics for chardonnays from each region, but the styles vary so wildly within a region, and even within a single producer, that definition based on region seems futile (try sitting down with a bottle of 'Kidnappers' and 'Gimblett Gravels' Hawkes Bay chardonnays from Craggy Range to see what we mean). That then leads the conversation to winemaker influence.

Winemaker influences on Chardonnay

It's hard to think of another grape that gives the winemaking artist such a broad palette to work off. If we look at Pinot Noir as a contrast, most winemakers will agree that Pinot Noir is 'made in the vineyard'. Sauvignon Blanc goes in to the tanks virtually untouched, and comes straight back out in to the bottle (for the most part anyway- except for a few shining examples of winemaker influenced Sauvignon Blancs). With Chardonnay however, the winemaker can use oak, partial oak, French or American oak (mainly French), secondary malolactic fermentation, no malo fermentation, indigenous/wild yeasts or inoculated yeasts etc etc etc. We see most often with chardonnay a portion of each of the above dependant on the fruit flavour profile for that vintage, and also on the winemakers' personal preferences. Winemakers can also use these techiniques to hide or accentuate good/bad fruit depending on seasonal variations, which is why we don't see such a marked variation in the same wine from year to year (unlike Pinot Noir, which is heavily influenced by the conditions of the season).

So - conclusions as to what defines NZ chardonnay? Ummm, this was a rather long-winded way of saying 'not really'. For those who haven't tried NZ chardonnay before, we recommend trying a broad range of wines from different regions and producers. NZ chardonnay does tend to be at it's best above the AUD$20 mark in Australia, but there are a few shining examples that sit at or below $20 (Wild Rock Pania 2009 just got 4.5 stars in Cuisine Magazine)...If you are looking for some advice on chardonnay please don't hesitate to ask the team here at NZ Wine Online..

Cheers!

Other Resources - Check out these three video reviews from Nick Stock on NZ Chardonnays: