Oak takes the blame when people snub chardonnay. Used judiciously, however, the wood helps to enrich and ennoble this white wine, which remains America's most popular varietal despite the growing chorus of ABC-ers. ABC as in "Anything But Chardonnay."
While chardonnay increasingly is produced and marketed in steely, unoaked styles akin to French Chablis, we still have a taste for the buttery flavors of a chardonnay fermented in oak barrels. Certainly, the grand white of Burgundy's Cote de Beaune region, the Puligny-Montrachet and the Corton-Charlemagne and their ilk, show what wise oak aging can do for the grape.
Done right, oak gives a warm toastiness to the wine without hiding the grape, said Barbara Glunz of Chicago's House of Glunz.
"I think chardonnay needs something to develop it," she said. "It takes a longer time for the wine to develop its flavors. It needs oak to bring that out."
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But enjoying a judicious dose of oak may cost you. Glunz said wines that do it right, such as the classic white Burgundies, generally cost $25 or more.
Chardonnay drinkers used to like "big in-your-face wines" that were "simple, up-front and easy to enjoy," said Don Sritong, owner of the Chicago shop Just Grapes.
But tastes evolved and consumers wanted more delicacy and nuance.
"A lot of producers have backed off the oak altogether or are making a wine much more in balance," he said.
Like most varietals, chardonnay grapes reflect the place where they're grown. Climate can affect the flavor too. A winemaker has to take the individual personality of the grape into consideration when deciding whether to age in oak or not. Then a decision has to be made about the type of oak to use. American oak tends to impart a sweeter flavor than French varieties. New oak barrels transfer more oakiness than older, reused barrels.
Winemakers choose which will match best with the grapes they're using and fit the house style.
"A really good example is to look at the typical style of Chablis and the typical style of the Cote de Beaune," said John Gillespie, president of the Wine Market Council, a nonprofit industry association. The grapes from Cote de Beaune are more intense in flavor, sweet and "may beg for moderation with oak."
The stylistic differences inherent in chardonnay were pointed out again, vividly, during the recent tasting of newer vintage French Burgundies and California chardonnays conducted as part of a reenactment of the Judgement of Paris, the famed 1976 tasting where California wines beat French in a blind tasting.
Peter Marks, one of the judges at the reenactment, said there was no mistaking the French for the California or vice versa during comparison tastings of newer vintage chardonnay and Burgundies.
"We saw pale yellow green from France and a deep yellow gold from California," said Marks, wine director of Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts in Napa, Calif. He said the California chards were very ripe, oaky and very creamy from malolactic fermentation, a process whereby the winemaker softens and smoothes the wine. The Burgundies, he said, had delineated fruit, acidity and minerality.
What's best? Hard to say; depends on your personal taste, tolerance/affection for oak, and your menu. Bigger, buttery chardonnays work great with creamy pastas and rich shellfish.
The key, perhaps, is to find the wine that strikes the right balance for you. Chicago retailer Howard Silverman of Howard's Wine Cellar likes just a little touch but he doesn't begrudge those who want more.
"I still have people coming in and saying they like it big," he said. "They like a lot of oak, God bless them."