Chardonnay Seminar

The most popular white wine in America is without a doubt, Chardonnay. Since the 1970′s when the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay beat out some of the top Burgundies, Chardonnay has been regarded as the best of whites. During the 90′s and 00′s, the style of Chardonnay that became very marketable was the California rich, oaky and creamy style. Unfortunately, this style became the benchmark for Chardonnay for many years.

Chardonnay is one of the great grapes in that it can have much diversity.  The Chardonnay seminar was intended for my restaurant staff so that they may gain a quick insight to the many styles that exist.  The Chardonnay Seminar is also intended for those Chardonnay drinkers that only drink one style of Chardonnay.  Hopefully it will open you eyes to the diversity of Chardonnay.  Chardonnay is one of those grapes that does not have a lot of aroma and intensity.  For this reason many California wine-makers started to ‘dress her up”.  However, sometimes it is the simplicity, the basic nature of the wine that makes the wine shine.  Today there are more and more new world wine-makers that are moving away from the rich style Chardonnay.  The trend is to plant Chardonnay where it will naturally pick up aroma, flavor and acidity from the place it is planted, rather than toning it down with yeasts and oak.  The great wine-makers have found the middle ground.  They let the wine’s acidity come through without losing the richness.

The Chardonnay Seminar will cover many regions of the world.  It will give you a better insight of what to expect from Chardonnay in these parts of the world. Hopefully you will be more adventurous and try Chardonnay form other regions, rather than California.