Any Chardonnay should be banned. Absolutely vile stuff.
Yeah, I was hugely popular in the late eighties, early nineties wasn’t it? Certainly overrated.
It depends. There are some very good unoaked chardonnays, especially French (Chablis, Bourgogne). The problems with it come from badly oaked wine, where the label may describe the wine buttery/creamy but which, in my experience, often means the wine has a lack of fruit flavours and the mouth-feel of cooking oil - horrible.
However, if the wine has been oaked in quality barrels it can be rich and luxurious - there's a massive spectrum of quality in chardonnay, thats for sure.
Any Chardonnay should be banned. Absolutely vile stuff.
Yeah, I was hugely popular in the late eighties, early nineties wasn’t it? Certainly overrated.
A proper French Chardonnay eg a decent Chablis or even Montrachet is among the best wine I’ve ever tasted. The Aussies and their cheap oak chips did a lot of damage to the “brand”.
Yes, I’d forgotten it was the very oaky, quite strong Chardonnays favoured by Bridget Jones and her gang that made Chardonnay ubiquitous. I’m pretty sure I drank a fair amount of it myself in Wolseys wine bar off Oxford St, back in the day. Have a horrible feeling we also used to go for Beaujolais Nouveau, just as an excuse for drinking in the morning. Never had a good one!
I only drink red wine these days. with a preference for Rioja. And before someone picks up on the ambiguity of my first sentence, I do also drink tea, water and beer, as I don’t ’only’ drink wine!
Chardonnay not my tipple but just to try it, and a nod to my carbon footprints, last week I bought a bottle of Greyfriars Chardonnay made from 100% Chardonnay grapes grown locally to me on the Hogs Back near Guildford.
Not a connoisseur but felt thin and was too acidic for my palate. They have many other excellent wines and it may be no coincidence it was the only still white wine they were knocking it out at the Farmers Market. But can recommend their very good Rose and fizzy stuff.
Chardonnay is a very versatile grape and tastes completely different depending on where it's grown and how the wine is made. A £1,000 bottle of 20 year old Montrachet will taste absolutely nothing like a £5 bottle of Blossom Hill. And although Chablis is not far from Montrachet, it has a completely different flavour.
St Julien or a Barolo are my preferred Chat du Pape a close second though I did try a Croatian one several years ago that was awesome. Malbec also goes well with a good steak
I've got a few bottles of each of the 2014 and 2016. Better to hold on for a few more years or wait? I prefer secondary flavours to fruit forward and tend to keep good Bordeaux for 15-25 years before drinking.
We had a 2014 Rubicon on the last two Christmas' Days and it was fab. I'm not an expert by any stretch I have to say.
St Julien or a Barolo are my preferred Chat du Pape a close second though I did try a Croatian one several years ago that was awesome. Malbec also goes well with a good steak
Hmmm, tasty red wine...
That Croatian red….was it called Babic and came in a large dark litre bottle?
Chardonnay is a very versatile grape and tastes completely different depending on where it's grown and how the wine is made. A £1,000 bottle of 20 year old Montrachet will taste absolutely nothing like a £5 bottle of Blossom Hill. And although Chablis is not far from Montrachet, it has a completely different flavour.
This. It amazes me how it can be so different. I love both Chablis & Montrachet, but put anything from Australia anywhere near me……..I’d rather have a bottle of Baldricks finest 🤢
St Julien or a Barolo are my preferred Chat du Pape a close second though I did try a Croatian one several years ago that was awesome. Malbec also goes well with a good steak
Hmmm, tasty red wine...
That Croatian red….was it called Babic and came in a large dark litre bottle?
It was part of a wine tasting event and, by this point, I was a few sheets to the wind.
It was called Vina Laguna Festigia and was a Cabernet Sauvignon and I loved it
Prompted by this thread I opened a bottle of 2019 Médoc yesteray afternoon and had a couple of small glasses. I tend to scribble on the label of wines that don't have the retailer on the label, and this one was brought over by a mate who is from Lyon and tends to drink mostly french wine.
It was lovely yesterday and even better this afternoon. I might have a little sleep now.
It bears repeating, most reds improve by letting them ‘breath’ for an hour.
In my experience this particularly applies to complex wines like Barolo where decanting allows the structure/flavours to develop. Have to add I’m an enthusiastic amateur, no expert.
Prompted by this thread I opened a bottle of 2019 Médoc yesteray afternoon and had a couple of small glasses. I tend to scribble on the label of wines that don't have the retailer on the label, and this one was brought over by a mate who is from Lyon and tends to drink mostly french wine.
It was lovely yesterday and even better this afternoon. I might have a little sleep now.
2019 is a great year for Bordeaux. Still a bit young for the middle ranking and above wines £15 +)
It bears repeating, most reds improve by letting them ‘breath’ for an hour.
In my experience this particularly applies to complex wines like Barolo where decanting allows the structure/flavours to develop. Have to add I’m an enthusiastic amateur, no expert.
I've found that often a red needs a good bit more than an hour, sometimes overnight seems more appropriate. But I'm always happy to pour and drink a first glass straight away, purely to increase the surface area of the wine in contact with air, you understand.
If I’m going to drink wine then it’ll be white, probably a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Nicest white I’ve had was a Chilean called La Paz. Also a shout out to English wines, Chapeldown especially.
It bears repeating, most reds improve by letting them ‘breath’ for an hour.
In my experience this particularly applies to complex wines like Barolo where decanting allows the structure/flavours to develop. Have to add I’m an enthusiastic amateur, no expert.
I've found that often a red needs a good bit more than an hour, sometimes overnight seems more appropriate. But I'm always happy to pour and drink a first glass straight away, purely to increase the surface area of the wine in contact with air, you understand.
The shocking truth is that you can get the same benefit as "letting it breathe" if you use one of those little electric milk whiskers on the wine in the glass for a few seconds. May seem like sacrilege, but came from a mate who knows his wines. He did say, "maybe not on the really good stuff". Try it. I've got a Coravin wine storage device and it comes with an aerator cap. It essentially works the same way. (when the cap doesn't fly off under the gas pressure and end up in the wine🤣)
To speed up the process I sometimes just pour the wine from a bit of a height so it bubbles in the glass. I've got a swirly pouring nozzle somewhere too, but don't think I've ever used it
Yes my technique for speeding up the aeration process is similar, pour into a large wine glass from some height so glass no more than one third full then swirl for a few minutes. Seems to help considerably.
Comments
"Is the chardonnay oaky?"
"Yes", they said. "It's okay."
St Julien or a Barolo are my preferred
Chat du Pape a close second though I did try a Croatian one several years ago that was awesome.
Malbec also goes well with a good steak
Hmmm, tasty red wine...
It amazes me how it can be so different. I love both Chablis & Montrachet, but put anything from Australia anywhere near me……..I’d rather have a bottle of Baldricks finest 🤢
It was called Vina Laguna Festigia and was a Cabernet Sauvignon and I loved it
Have to add I’m an enthusiastic amateur, no expert.