A Not Unusual Claim From Wineries

Have you ever visited a winery? Many of us have. Among the claims that I have heard many times from winery hosts is that "our Chardonnay doesn't taste like Chardonnay" or that "we make a Pinot Noir for Cabernet drinkers."

Is that good or bad?

Let's think about it. Let's suppose that you or I wanted to drink a wine that doesn't taste like Chardonnay. For starters, that's okay. There is no requirement that either of us like Chardonnay and, even if we do, there is no requirement that the wine we want to drink today or tomorrow or some other particular day. 

Let's suppose for a minute that I want to drink a wine that doesn't taste like Chardonnay. I'm not sure why in this particular case, but the why doesn't matter for now. Do I have any choices?

Well, if I am even raising the spectre of Chardonnay, chances are that I am thinking white wine. So, I need to consider whether there are any qhite grapes that don't taste like Chardonnay.

Hmm.

If you've been with me since the beginning and have a pretty good memory of what you've read, you can probably come up with 25 or so. If your memory is perfect, there are likely somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 (I haven't counted for a while) plus hundreds or even thousands more that are used in one place or another to make white wines.

Returning to the issue at hand, suppose you wanted a white wine that doesn't taste like Chardonnay. What would you do? Would you go looking for a Chardonnay that doesn't taste like Chardonnay or would you get a different white wine? I think that's easy.

Before leaving, though, I need to defend the wineries. I think that most who say things like that are simply saying that their wine doesn't taste like mass-produced Chardonnay. Instead, what it does taste like is more like Chardonnay the way the fine folks from Burgundy imagine it. Not overoaked. Not having gone through such heavy malolactic fermentation that even people who live for butter think it's too buttery. 

You know that Chardonnay that doesn't taste like Chardonnay? Maybe the right message, if they can really make the claim is that unlike much of the mass-produced swill, their Chardonnay actually does taste like Chardonnay.

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