California Chardonnay on Display

California Chardonnay on Display – Episode #337

October 19, 2007

Gary Vaynerchuk tastes three Chardonnays that he’s excited to try.

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Comments on this episode(225) Leave a comment ›

“QOTD: I like burgundian flavours over the oak….” by richardvinifera
“Fun show. I loved the references and the struggles with whether or no…” by Phredd
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Wines tasted in this episode:

2005 Acacia Carneros ChardonnayNapa Chardonnay
2005 Sonoma Cutrer Sonoma Coast ChardonnaySonoma Chardonnay
2004 Petaluma Chardonnay PiccadillyAustralian Chardonnay

Links mentioned in todays episode.

Vayniac Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 Forum

225 Responses

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October 20, 2007

Bill
Agreed. There are lots of over-oaked chards available these days, and it requires more careful selection than ever to find a fine balanced chard.
October 20, 2007

K MAN
Torre overrated? Come on man, he’s a legend.

However, if Mattingly takes the stage, I think it will be epic.

QOTD: Many girls I know love the Chard, and many just drink it cause others drink. I actually don’t care that much for it. Reds baby, Reds.
October 20, 2007

ken kaye
chards just don’t work well with most foods, the oak, vanilla, just too many artificial flavors. unoaked chard much better with food, many are crisp and fruity.
October 20, 2007

David
Great show Gary – welcome back.

QOTD: I drink less Chardonnay than I used to because of some bad experiences with the oak monster and butter bandit. But I’ve had a few good ones lately, including some naked chards, so I may increase my drinking of it over the next few months.
October 20, 2007

hd16141b
I am always looking for a good chard, but I do tend to be picky about them. I love Pessagno Sleepy Hollow Chard and have not found anything yet that I like better.
October 20, 2007

Phil G
Joe Torre is NOT over rated. Thank you.

QOTD – I am not down with over-oaked chards – not good.
October 20, 2007

sky
butter bandit? yep. butter baron? no. butter pirate? no. butter bandit. It has a nice ring to it. The oak moster could hang out with the butter bandit and shoot fruit bombs(explosive multi-warhead fruit bombs) at old world wine drinkers. I see a wine world video game in your future, Gary. Or our future, ’cause it’s a little bit of all of us changin’ the world-at least the wine world anyway.
October 20, 2007

sky
thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my glass I thank you gary for helpiing to change the wine world. You have certainly changed mine, I used to be a bit closed minded (and snobby) about wine and you have reminded me repeatedly to broaden my horizons and try wines I used to turn my nose up at. I have realized there is a time and a place for oaky cali chard and cheap merlot with an animal on a florescent label and other stuff that I always have avoided in the past. Its o.k. to drink these wines. Thanx Gary for helping me take the corncob out of my ///hole. Being relaxed about wine makes it so much more fun….luv ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 20, 2007

mjhch1
Chardonnay has it’s place… I love French chardonnay wines, and I’ve been really pleased with some rare UN-oaked chards. Funny though, how some people that I’ve tried to turn-on to Un-oak styles, well.. they don’t “get it”. I hear them say “this doesn’t seem like a chardonnay to me!”
Chardonnay is such a HUGELY varied wine, seriously, if you keep trying them; you’ll eventually find something you like!
SALUT!
October 20, 2007

Joe Po
Gary, thanks for your take on the Chardonnays. I rejected them a while back because of an after taste. I just did not like this metallic, bitter?( I don’t know how to describe it). So I’ve been drinking almost every other white but the Big C. Although I must admit that in ‘01 at Rombauer I tried one and it was tasty!! Oh well. I should get over it, right? Thanks again for your info.
October 20, 2007

AlisonD
been to Acacia…and stayed at the Carneros Inn..and WOW..Carneros Inn is such a nice place!
October 20, 2007

AlisonD
QOTD: I have always be open to Chards…I prefer white over red. I have been belittled by many wine drinkers for it! Who cares, right?? I just tell them there is more red wine for them to drink! At the recent Super Tasting I actually tried 90% white.
October 20, 2007

Road Warrior
QOTD-I like Chardonnay’s that are not manipulated too much. Let the fruit speak, let the oak work, but don’t mask the flavors or make it to fit a trend. Lots of my friends are huge into Rombauer and while I think it is a well made wine, I just can’t get over the oak and butter. Where’s the fruit? As you were tasting the Acacia and mentioned it was one of your first wine, it reminded me that it was one of my first “good” wines as well and traditionally I thought pretty well done. I like the Carneros region for the acid and what the fruit brings and I have thought in the past that they stayed away from too much oak. I can bring a mineral and flint character that is much more like a Burgundy. They used to do more vineyard specific and some were fantastic efforts.
October 20, 2007

ImFeelingFitTony
Thanks for the Chard episode; it’s almost impossible now to go into any decent wine store and not find an enormous selection of Chard, so a little help once in awhile never hurts.

QOTD- I like Chard because I love to have them with a cigar. A good, oak/butter chard with a smooth, mild cigar is a great combo, at least for me.
October 20, 2007

Steven E Baumgartner
This is the first time we have viewed your show, very informative and fun. We like your idea of tayloring a show for a particular audiance. We may take you up on that idea in the future. Once a month we have a “Wine Night at Baumgartner Ranch” and we are trying to educate the participants but it is tough to change drinking habits into wine tasting.

I am going to introduce one of your episodes at the next meeting through PC to TV, if that is ok with you…

Thanks again and talk to you soon,
Steve Baumgartner
October 20, 2007

Susan - SoCal
Wow – had no idea so many people had such a ‘tude about Chards – guess I better stay in my little SoCal bubble….life is good in here…chards/the O.C. go together like PB&J!!
October 20, 2007

Patricia Pendergast
I used to be down with Chards….currently, aside from good Chablis and Burgundy, I am down ON them. Don’t like the oak monsters out there and agree with the other viewer on Toasted Head. Unfortunately, where I reside (Saratoga Springs), if I want to watch a football game on Sunday at a place other than my home, the options for wine really stink….K-J and Toasted Head are just about the only options at the sports establishments up here. Sad….but true. I am psyched to try the Petaluma though.
October 20, 2007

Jim in Atlanta
Yes. I am down on Chardonnay, but do enjoy some. There are lots of other intereting wines to drink at good prices so why spend a lot of time on Chardonnay.
October 20, 2007

Nathan
I probably knock it more than I should. But it seems like oaky chard people are, more often than not, kind of monotone people. There are a lot of whites I’d rather have, and since my job is Italian wine, I have no shortage of un-oaked whites to try. The Italians can go way over the top too…like with Planeta Chard. Talk about oak and butter, and $50 too. I’ve had some nice Chardonnay, but it’s not what I grab for. In fact, I can’t remember the last one I bought.

Looking forward to the Butter Bandit, and the rest of the characters.
October 20, 2007

Chris M
QOTD- I was down on the Chardonnay for a long time and I know why. There was like a 2 month period where the oak monster was living in every glass of Chard I had. I got sick of it and found other wine that I liked. But lately, because of you Gary, I have had several chard’s that I enjoyed. Thanks for all you do, and we are changing the wine world!
October 20, 2007

onemore
Ah, I finally have time (around 4 a.m.; hooray for insomnia) to sit and watch all the recent episodes I missed. Hooray!

QOTD: Nah, I don’t dis all or even most chardonnay. Honest. Why, two of my favorite wines are chardonnays (Mer Soleil and Four Vines Naked). There’s also a Pouilly Fuisse out there that I like a lot, but I can never remember which one it is. I had it 2 or 3 times at restaurants, never wrote down the label info, and continue to kick myself for that. Bah.

Chardonnay was part (along with merlot) of my intro to wine 20 years ago. KJ was the first chardonnay I ever tasted, and I drank a lot of it before expanding my horizons beyond what was readily available in every store in town. Chardonnay and merlot will always have that special “got me into wine” place in my heart, though I’ve always leaned more toward merlot. Man, I love me some merlot. By the time I tried my first cabernet sauvignon, I had tried plenty of merlots—but I digress.

I know what I like and don’t like in chardonnay. A couple of my friends are sick and tired of hearing me bash their beloved Toasted Head but honestly, I can’t stomach that stuff, just as those two friends of mine can’t stand unoaked chardonnay. To each his/her own palate, after all. Besides, a little oak in chardonnay is fine with me. I just can’t handle something that tastes like an oak tree + little else.

I once met someone at a social event who said she couldn’t stand men who drink chardonnay. When I asked her why, she claimed chardonnay is a wimpy drink. I asked her if she feels that way about champagne, sauvignon blanc, riesling, and pinot gris. Her opinion was that white wine in general is feminine whereas red wines are more masculine. She very rarely drank reds and stuck to mostly chardonnay. And this was someone my age (30something), which shocked me because I didn’t think anyone born in the early 70s would seriously apply gender roles to wines. I spent an hour talking with her about it, partly because I was fascinated and partly because I wanted to change her mind. I at least got her to try a cabernet sauvignon (she had never had one before) and a merlot at that party. What an interesting night that turned out to be.

Anyway: chardonnay = good stuff.
October 20, 2007

fatdoi
don’t like whites in first place….. only whites i fond of are rieslings & viogniers…… chards…. they’re just chards, never too exciting from my point of view
October 20, 2007

ev
Joe Torre overrated! Wow, you really DON’T know what you’re talking about.
October 20, 2007

Sgtvino
QOTD: I am down with chardonnay. I had too many oak/butter monsters that if I haven’t heard great things about it, or it is not an unoaked chard, I am likely to seek out a different varietal. Good, bad, I don’t know. It has gotten me into trying different things though and appreciating more styles of white wines.
October 20, 2007

billr
The BUTTER BANDIT..HMMMM. May the BUTTER BUSTER. Glad your UP and at it again.

QOTD: Chardonnays, I am like Michelle, I have not found one that the oak monster hasn’t torn me up on. I too like the non-dry, sweet yet buttery wines. Anyone know of Chards that arent dry, sweet and crisp???