Which Chardonnay?
Story by Mary C. Foster

"How do you introduce Chardonnay to your customers?" I ask Genevieve Elam. With her Rebecca-of-Sunny-Brook-Farm curls and bright blue eyes, she is the vivacious tasting bar manager at a new store in Manhattan. Pouring and selling New York wines exclusively, more than 170 all told, Vintage New York is located in the Soho district. Open seven days a week, it is the only wine shop in the city open on Sundays. http://www.vintagenewyork.com

Chardonnay is so popular that the name alone on a label sells. Why? Chardonnay is a classic. It is "white Burgundy" - the supreme white grape of Burgundy, France - producing the finest, most legendary, most expensive, dry wines in the world. Think Le Montrachet, renowned as the greatest white wine vineyard in the world.

And in the New World wine regions? Yes, Chardonnay is considered the best white grape here, too. Vineyard managers love its adaptability. Winemakers love its "great character" - that is, its range of fruit flavor characteristics - allowing a winemaker to create a variety of wines. Lovely and legendary, Chardonnay is a wine for every palate.

As the most popular varietal in America, it's natural that many of Genevieve's clientele want to know more about it.

Steel vs. Oak

"I like to make a taste comparison," Genevieve explains. She pours a crisp "steel" Chardonnay, one that has been fermented in stainless steel barrels - and next to it places an "oak" one, fermented in French or American oak barrels.

"Color can tell you a lot about a wine," an Australian wine critic once told me. Of two Chardonnays side by side, the more golden one will have been fermented in oak barrels. The lighter one will have spent less time in oak or, possibly, none at all. And then, you must confirm your observations by....

Well, swirl one glass, and the scent of apple, pear, and a whiff of citrus arises as you take a sip. Perhaps its more golden neighbor has the same taste of "northern" fruits, but also distant hints of honey and toasted almonds, even apricots, and a scent of vanilla.

Back at Vintage New York, Genevieve continues, "Then, I link the wines with food. People naturally think of white wine with fish, and we talk about what kinds of seafood these different wines would complement, and how it would be prepared."

Genevieve likes "richer dishes, like salmon" she told me, which she bakes lightly seasoned with lemon juice. Her favorite wine? "I like my Chardonnays lightly oaked, well balanced" - the opposite side on the flavor scale to the big California oak taste, or as Genevieve puts it, "crazy with oak." Preferring a Chardonnay that is " balanced, crisp, bright, a touch of oak, one with depth to it," she has a Long Island favorite she sips at the end of each evening.

Our curly blonde hostess is on to something: understanding the complex world of wine through your food preferences.

Seafood Chardonnay

Remember those glorious August days of childhood? My favorites were sunny Long Island days fishing or at the ocean beach. Evenings became fresh seafood feasts, icy clams being shucked and flopping fish scaled by my handy, East Hampton cousins. My no-nonsense, Montauk-born grandmother believed in cooking fresh food as simply as possible. Just broil whatever came in, bluefish, weakfish, striped bass, fluke, flounder, even mackerel - with a tad of butter and a squeeze of lemon.

A preference for an ocean-fresh raw bar and non-sauced fish is key, I think, to why I like citrus-crisp, white wines. A "lean" Chardonnay, which has seen no oak, is a refreshing complement to the simple way I like seafood best. There is a thrilling acidity in a well-crafted Chardonnay that is mouth-watering and evocative, to me, of those grand summer feasts of my childhood.

What's Your Favorite?

Learning about what wines you like by considering your favorite food choices is not really new. It's a very useful "tool" of many a wine shop proprietor to help a customer make a selection.

A while back, I had the occasion to ask Cindy Richards, co-owner of Peconic Liquors in Cutchogue, New York, to tell me about the broad range of Chardonnays , as hers is the first store, ever, anywhere, to sell Long Island wines. Catching her at her bustling wine shop, she immediately talked food. "All the winemakers have their own style of Chardonnay. Everyone has a different recipe. It's like cooking."

As the predominant white grape planted on Long Island, nearly every local wine producer has at least two different styles of Chardonnay, some three. When customers are befuddled by the array of choices, sociable Cindy asks them, "Are you having this with or without food, and what kind of food?"

The basic difference in Chardonnay styles, Ms. Richards explains, is "those not fermented in oak, but in steel tanks, and those put in oak barrels, and for how long. Those fermented in stainless steel are lighter and have a citrus quality. Those treated in oak get nutty, oaky, vanilla flavors. They are, for the most part, richer and fuller bodied."

Tropical Fruits or Northern?

And yet, "there seems to be not only a lot of styles but also a lot of "flavors" of Chardonnay here on Long Island," a local writer commented the other day. Why so many "fruit" flavors? "Because we can," a North Fork winemaker slyly rejoined. In other words, if you have the capabilities to craft a range of Chardonnays, it's so adaptable, why wouldn't you?

We've all heard the adage: great wine is made in the vineyard. It comes down to a matter of farming and climate. Long Island has a great farming climate. Now, the art of farming is about doing what it takes to bring out the best in a fruit - in this instance, a wine grape. And then there's selecting the wine grape clones that will grow best in your climate. Today, the state of the art is that there are clones of Chardonnay that display tropical fruit flavors, like pineapple, even banana, and there are clones that display "northern" fruits , apple, pear, melon. After bringing forward the fruit characteristics that you want, malolactic and oak-barrel fermentations add another level of creaminess, toastiness, and complexity. The art of winemaking, finally, is to strike the right, exciting balance.

Ultimately, "Which Chardonnay?" is a matter of taste. Yours.

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