CHARDONNAY "THE GREAT GODDESS"

By J. Douglas Meador
Author of The New Viticulture

From the beginning in Burgundy, France, Chardonnay has spread to become one of the most widely planted varieties in the world - both in terms of distance and acreage. In France alone the acres in 1958 were 17,580 and by 1988 were about 60,000! The growth of acreage in California has been phenomenal - most of it planted in the last ten years! In 1966 there was only around 200 acres of it in America (all California) with the predominant grower/producer being Wente Brothers. According to one report, the U.S. is over 100,000 acres today! In 1999, it was the most grown white grape in California.

The predominant wine style through the seventies and on into the eighties was no ML fermentation and all stainless steel production. Karl Wente introduced stainless steel vessels with temperature control and oxygen elimination to the American industry - a (perhaps, "the") major contribution to White wine production and ultimately causing a revolution in World white wine consumption. Prior to this innovation most (not all!) whites of the world were somewhat oxidized and displayed little or no fruit - a function of warm or hot fermentation, open tops and failure to understand the effects of oxygen. Naturally cold areas did produce lovely whites and were justly famed. Subsequently, with Karl's approach, long cool fermentations under gas resulted in fresh, fruity wines the likes of which had not before been seen (except a few in Germany - the initial developers of the technology) and became possible widely. Gorgeous natural smells and flavors of the grape previously "blown off" were now retained in the wines. The World went into a frenzied reaction / love affair with whites - reversing the long standing ratio of consumption of 60% red to 40% White and Rose - a ratio that is only now returning somewhat.

In its home area of Burgundy, Chardonnay at its best has long been famous - but only at its best. General White burgundy suffered often from poor winemaking and growing. But the "best" was expensive - relatively speaking - then and now. Small lot production fermented in new French oak barrels always costs. It is inherent in the cost of labor and in regularly replacing barrels with new.

Site or location was a prime factor in the "best" wines. These specific sites became famous over time and their prices soon justified and supported the more expensive winemaking procedures - leading to even greater fame. Villages even attached the names of great vineyards to theirs (Chassagne-Montrachet, etc.).

In the hands of the Burgundians the marvelous marriage of the Chardonnay grape (as they grew it) with the oak of the barrel (as they made it) with the procedures (as they developed them) was evolved.

Elsewhere, the marriage did not occur. Chablis, for example, was fruit character focused. New oak was not favored there. In fact, old neutral barrels properly cared for were greatly prized. Pouilly-Fuisse and St. Veran were a later phenomena and tank-fermenting is the norm - not new oak taste and aromas. These probably fall more into modern marketing effects than historical fame.

In the United States - California - the development commenced in the sixties with francophiles at Hanzell first importing a few new French barrels for barrel fermentation (sirugue). Subsequently, at Mt. Eden, Dick Graff (also a complete Francophile) commenced importing a few new barrels (sirugue) both for there and subsequently for Chalone which be bought in 1966. When I say a 'few" I mean a "few". In perhaps 1973 or 4, I was in Chalone's "Winery" - a long (perhaps 50 feet) narrow converted chicken shed with barrels stacked two-high along one side - and Dick showed me with great pride, his few "new" barrels of the year.

The French cooper (barrel-maker) for Hanzell, Chalone and Mt. Eden was Yves Sirugue of Nuit-St. George, France and was represented here by an American - as a sideline hobby. After participating in buying a few barrels for a couple of years - in early 1979 I asked about purchasing a complete container-load of barrels myself. According to the shocked agent(1) that had never been done before by an individual or entity and after recovering - moved me to the top of the shipping list for timing. My order would come first. Remember, then French cooperages were small supplying only their local wineries. They had not experienced any impact from Americans. Of course, this one order pushed everyone else back - far enough to possibly create problems at harvest. Dick called me - irate that I had moved ahead of him - the mentor. We easily worked it out though - if there was a delay in his he could have from mine and replace them from the later shipment. Until Dick's call I had no idea the effects of my order on others.

The 1978 and 1979 Ventana Chardonnay had a tremendous impact and were the "darlings" of the judgings and the media. Recently at least one prominent winemaker asserted the 1979 Ventana was the best Chardonnay yet produced in California. Another, in a Wine Spectator interview, asserted that those were his role models - he "has to make wine like that."(2). However, dramatic as it was, it was still produced "California - style" - i.e. - no malo-lactic fermentation.

The University of California, Davis, taught generations of American winemakers to never allow M-L bacteria into white wine and if you did you would go to somewhere around Dante's eighth level of hell. With their focus on hot Central Valley fruit they were no doubt correct.

In the mid-seventies Ventana commenced exploring M-L on coastal cold climate Chardonnay. Andre Tchelistcheff steered my direction initially though his papers has been on red - a then established practice on the coast. One "reality" problem was high-acid juice, a cold climate situation. Another "artistic" problem was "how did the French achieve butteriness and toast". The "butteriness" component was a function of M-L. We demonstrated this to other winemakers in 1978 and 1979 when we did side-by-side fermentations of the same juice - non M-L and M-L'd. The "toast" aspect was demonstrated by Dick Graff as a function of "stirring" - i.e., yeast autolysis. Dick had brought this from Burgundy - "battonage". The first commercial M-Led Chardonnay was the 1980 Chalone, the second, the 1981 Ventana Crystal Chardonnay.

Thus by 1981 the technical knowledge for the production of modern California Chardonnay was in place and was demonstrated to the winemaking community. A not small aspect of the matter was that those commercial wines were produced and marketed by wineries of some repute. It has been stated to me by a few winemakers of the time that they knew of M-L effects but were not permitted by owners to use the process. Thus - the fear factor was diminished and the door opened. It should be noted that the fear factor was not unwarranted - early on there was some risk in the process until it became more understood, the price of Chardonnay grapes was very high and the type / style of the resulting wine was different.

1) Memory continued by agent 5/3/00
2) Cecil Deloach


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