Layne’s Wine Gig
OMG CHARDONNAY
“Brands are for cereal and toilet paper. Not wine.”
-Andrew Jefford, acclaimed British wine writer
OMG Chardonnay! There are brands of chardonnay, but the grape itself has become a brand.
Chardonnay has, to say the least, taken some serious knocks lately. Sommeliers generally hate it, moving on to more obscure grapes to entice you and your money. The natural wine people have moved on to Piquette, that trashy French residue that has become cool and faddish.
Yet despite it all chardonnay not only endures but seems to be thriving in all locales, prices, and circumstances. Our first example is the hallowed Cakebread Cellars from Napa Valley (since 1973).
Cakebread Cellars: Enjoy the taste of Napa Valley on the Maine Coast
Jack and Delores Cakebread had a vision of Napa Valley when there were few people aware or looking. All their wines are classic examples that define elegance, finesse, and the good life via the vehicle of the grape. Their 2019 chardonnay runs around $40.00 at retail and as much as the market can bear in a white tablecloth restaurant.
The photo is not a white tablecloth restaurant but is the bar at the Portland Lobster Company at 180 Commercial Street. It is being poured for $14.00 a glass (in a plastic cup). It is perfectly reasonable to sip the elegance that is Cakebread Chardonnay and to admire and contemplate the glory that is both in your cup and the intricate flavors of your lobster roll. Great music, great lobster, a beautiful afternoon. I commend them for serving such a remarkable wine when they could have opted for a far lesser selection.
Jam Cellars: Buttery smoothness for the rooftop patio
Moving on from the sublime to the, well, OMG of brand marketing is Jam Cellars Butter Chardonnay from California. Drizly can deliver it to you for $17.99 a bottle. It has become a phenomenon partly because its bright buttery package virtually leaps out at you, and there are lots of adoring consumers.
A Drizly quote from a customer named Savannah sums it up, “My absolute favorite Chardonnay. Smooth as butter and gone in the blink of an eye.” With a world full of Savannah’s, Butter Chardonnay sales have catapulted from zip to 400,000 cases a year.
We drank it from a can atop Bayside Bowl’s rooftop bar at 58 Alder Street, accompanied with shrimp tacos from their vintage Airstream kitchen. Frankly, it is better than I thought it would be, but it is hard to put on the critic’s hat when listening to music and eating delicious food alongside your love.
After giving it some thought, Butter Chardonnay simply joins the pack of the roughly $10.00 world of flavor of California Chardonnay alongside brands far too numerous to mention. Savannah the consumer nailed it. They have done it. They have created a thing – complete with the “Butter Party Bus.”
Their only problem is not in ducking down low in visibility. The massive Robert Mondavi Winery has introduced “Buttery Chardonnay” followed by the juggernaut of the Ernest and Julio Gallo’s Dark Horse “Buttery Chardonnay,” whose “bold wines are meticulously crafted to outperform their price tag.” This could be a time to take your profits and run.
Good news for you, Savannah. Your $17.99 per bottle “buttery Chardonnay” will soon be running you $10.00 … or less.
Willamette Valley Vineyards: Flying under the radar
To really get your money’s worth, combined with the big “wow,” you must go under the radar. Willamette Valley Vineyards, Willamette Valley, Oregon, “Dijon Clone” Chardonnay, 2017, $17.99 bottle. Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris from the famed Willamette Valley (now a world heritage appellation) are no-brainers and have been for years. The original ten families who made wine here have just celebrated fifty years of their work. Great wine does not happen overnight.
The cool climate has been kind and beneficial to these other grapes. Chardonnay, not so much. Original Chardonnay vines from nurseries in California were perfectly suited to the warmth of “the golden state,” not the misty coolness of the rainy, foggy state that is Oregon.
The introduction of the Dijon clone from vine cuttings in Burgundy, France is fairly recent in Willamette Valley Chardonnays, producing a wine that is nuanced and complex, resembling more a white Burgundy than a California Chardonnay. Why does this matter? Because the prices of French White Burgundy have skyrocketed. Part of that is the 25% tariff. The other part is the desirability of the wine in a world that is obsessed with wine that is more bling, investment, and a status symbol, than it is an enjoyable beverage to share with friends and family.
Bourgogne (White Burgundy), Macon, Pouilly Fuisse, the exalted villages of Meursault and Puligny Montrachet, and the rest are very good wines, but when you attach the name “Gucci” to a good handbag it becomes overpriced and precious. The best part about the Willamette Valley Vineyards, apart from the awesome price, is that desirable Pinot Noir from Oregon follows a “Gucci bag” trajectory. The Chardonnay just hasn’t caught up yet.
Lava Cap: Brawny wine from California
Lava Cap Chardonnay, Sierra Foothills, California, 2017, $20.00 bottle. Three hundred case total production.
We need to take a step back in history for a moment. For those of you who get your information from your smart phone, here are a few facts: Wine country vineyards in California in 1870 consisted of Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Sonoma. The prominence of Napa came later. But there was an early place dating from the Gold Rush of 1849, the Sierra Foothills and Placerville. The pioneers, mostly Europeans, planted a plethora of different grapes. The one that became the signature grape was Zinfandel. Even today, the area’s production is not that large. The region still resembles a gold rush camp, albeit with more tourists.
I mention this because the style of Zinfandel in this region is brawny in nature. A winemaker tastes mostly their own wines, with diversions as far as their imagination and budget can carry them. This is a brawny Chardonnay, made by a winemaker who previously made the famed Heitz Cellars “Martha’s Vineyard” Cabernet from Napa. Once that wine is imprinted in your tastebuds there is no going back to something light.
OMG Chardonnay, as you have seen, covers the entire range of flavors of the grape.
The Cakebread is refined, balanced fruit and subdued oak. A light fish dish with a cream sauce matches the total sophistication of their achievement. Fritto misto, flounder, halibut, and even ham are ideal. And don’t forget the lobster!
Butter is chuggable with or without shrimp or fish taco fare, especially suitable out of a can on the deck or at the beach.
The Willamette Valley Vineyards “Dijon Clone” is perfect with scallops, pasta, prosciutto and goat cheese. You can spend more money on food because you have already saved it compared to a bottle of overpriced Pouilly Fuisse. This is a wine you contemplate.
Get out the grill for the Lava Cap Chardonnay. Roasted salmon with a rich sauce, smoked fish, grilled pork, fried oysters with a remoulade sauce, wild mushrooms galore. This will even handle meat on the grill.
The message here is that there is a style for every taste and a budget for every taste. Just get out there and experiment in the land of OMG Chardonnay.
Layne has been a professional in the wine business for many decades as a teacher, importer, writer, competition judge, and winery CEO. He was awarded the Master Knight of the Vine for his pioneering work in the Oregon wine industry.
Read more of his posts here. Or visit his blog at http://winemaniacs.wordpress.com/blog.
