Ignore the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) diehards

Bread & Butter Chardonnay, California, USA 2023 (£16, Sainsbury’s)

When sommeliers are selling chardonnay, there’s often an apologetic air to proceedings. “Don’t worry,” the patter goes, “this is not your usual, old-fashioned, big, oaky, buttery, syrupy tropical-fruity chardonnay. It’s actually really fresh and bright and the winemaker has never so much as sniffed a tree, let alone used a barrel.” But while this kind of revisionist propaganda might work on the world’s many confirmed chardonnay-phobes, for other wine-drinkers it might be counter-productive. That, at least, is what the success of one unashamedly glossy, viscous chardonnay brand suggests, Bread & Butter Chardonnay having attracted many people who have never tired of this quintessentially Californian style.

Domaine Trouillet Les Reines de laTrocard Beaujolais Blanc, Beaujolais, France 2023 (£16, Majestic)

You can now find some variation on the proudly oaky, buttery California Chardonnay theme in most big retailers. But too many of these wines rely on adding oak flavour with oak chips, rather than ageing the wine in barrels, a cheap trick which brings a candied artificial edge to the flavours.  I see the appeal of the original, which manages to leaven the toasty-syrupy heaviness with a breath of freshness, achieved by combining fresher chardonnay grapes from the relative cool of California’s Carneros with the riper, richer fruit from  Monterey. Still, if I had £16 to spend on a chardonnay at Majestic, I’d be looking for something that offers graceful fluency, freshness and brightness alongside orchard fruits, a wine such as the outstanding Beaujolais Blanc from Domaine Trouillet.

The Society’s Limarí Exhibition Chardonnay, Limarí, Chile 2023 (£11.95, The Wine Society)

When you consider that chardonnay is one of the most adaptable of grape varieties, it seems strange that there remains an ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) tendency. After all, a wine such as the stony-cool, quicksilver Tesco Finest Chablis 2023 (£15) is miles away from the Big Buttered brands. Wines that follow the classically lean, clean chablis template are best with seafood and fresh cheeses, but for richer dishes something with more weight is called for. Among recent standouts were a pair from The Wine Society’s Exhibition own-label. Both the beautifully chiselled Limarí Chardonnay and the riper, stone-fruited Exhibition Santa Barbara County Chardonnay 2021 (£17) show how a careful use of oak can add layers of flavour and complexity to chardonnay grown in a relatively cool climate.