White grape
Chardonnay
A highly adaptable white grape that can produce lean, high-acid wines, rich barrel-fermented styles and important sparkling wines.
Where it grows
Works across cool to warm regions. Cooler sites tend to preserve more acidity; warmer sites can produce riper fruit and fuller body.
What it usually feels like
Think of this as the grape’s default setting, not its destiny. Change the climate, the vintage or what happens in the winery and it can turn into a rather different beast.
Acidity
Medium to high
How fresh, tart or mouth-watering the wine tends to feel.
Tannin / grip
Minimal
Most white wines have little drying tannin because the juice is usually separated from the skins early. Skin-contact styles can feel grippier.
Body
Light to full
How light, rounded or weighty the wine feels in the mouth.
Aroma intensity
Moderate
How strongly the wine tends to smell before you even taste it.
What tends to turn up in the glass
No, nobody put any of that in it.
Wine people use fruit, herbs, flowers and spice as shorthand because saying “it tastes like itself” is not terribly helpful. These are the clues that crop up most often; place, ripeness and winemaking decide which ones shout and which merely wave from the back.
Then the winemaker gets involved
Same grape. Different decisions. Quite a different drink.
Once the grapes reach the winery, the choices start piling up. Steel can keep things brisk, skin contact adds grip, lees can broaden the texture and oak can change the whole mood. None is automatically better — they simply pull the wine in different directions.
Stainless steel
Keeps oak and oxygen largely out of the way, so the fruit and acidity get to do the talking.
Barrel fermentation
Oak can add texture, spice, toast and sometimes vanilla. New oak tends to announce itself; older barrels are usually rather better behaved.
Malolactic fermentation
Change the fermentation and you can change the fruit, texture, tannin and general mood of the wine surprisingly quickly.
Lees ageing
Let the wine sit on its spent yeast and it can become rounder, broader and a touch more savoury or bready.
Traditional-method sparkling
A second fermentation in bottle creates the bubbles and, with time, those familiar bready, biscuity notes.
Now put it next to something else.
Wine makes far more sense side by side. Try this grape against something similar and the differences suddenly stop being theory — more acidity here, more perfume there, perhaps a bit more weight or considerably less restraint.
Compare with
Sauvignon Blanc
An aromatic white grape known for high freshness and a range of citrus, herbal and tropical characters depending on site and ripeness.
Open grape
Compare with
Riesling
A highly aromatic white grape with naturally high acidity and an unusually broad range from bone-dry to intensely sweet.
Open grape
Compare with
Pinot Noir
A thin-skinned red grape associated with perfume, fresh acidity and relatively light colour, but capable of substantial complexity and ageing.
Open grape