I don’t drink a lot of Chardonnay. Because it’s one of the most widely planted white varietals, it’s often a crapshoot finding a terroir or viniculture technique that produces a Chardonnay I really like. To oak or not to oak? Honestly, I don’t always want to taste it to find out the answer.
However, I was recently introduced to a Chardonnay that I’ve nicknamed The Game Changer. The time: A Thursday night. The place: A new neighborhood wine bar. The wine: Domaine Faiveley Montagny.
My palate was a bit bored from all the rose I had been drinking over the summer and I wanted to venture out.
“Chardonnay?” I replied skeptically when the bartender offered me a taste.
“Just try it,” was the response.
Well, hey now. This was quite something else. A white burgundy, green apple and pear on the palate with the slightest bit of nuttiness or biscuit on the nose. On the palate it was clean and crisp, rather acidic and with good minerality. There was still a bit of pear, but is that a bit of a citrus fruit I’m getting as well? Now this was a revelation! All those tree-licking oaky chardonnays and their butter-churning siblings are running scared.
I’m still a Chardonnay skeptic (there have been a few chardonnay mishaps since), but after tasting this wine, I’m intrigued by what else this grape is capable of.
Keep tasting….
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