WineInk: Chardonnay four ways

“There’s nothing better than Montrachet.” “We’ll have a bottle of the blanc de blanc.” “I love the white wines from the West Sonoma Coast.” “I’ll have a glass of chardonnay.”

In just a couple of hours on a recent Friday afternoon while seated at the bar at Clark’s Oyster Bar in Aspen, I heard each of those comments from nearby drinkers and diners. All were showing, in various ways, their love for what is perhaps the most versatile of all wine grapes: chardonnay.

I’ve been sipping chardonnay more frequently this summer and have rediscovered the joys of what I have described as my “starter wine.”

In the days of my youth, my grandfather would eat his lunch daily at a restaurant called Jimmy’s — not the one in Aspen, but the celebrity hangout on Moreno Drive in Beverly Hills. A creature of habit, he would always sit at the same table, order the same fish, and pair it with a glass of Trefethen Chardonnay from the Napa Valley.

One summer day, I was summoned to lunch with Granddad. As I perused the menu, the proprietor, Jimmy Murphy, an Irishman who was a beloved LA restaurateur and a classic character, came to our table with a bottle of the 1976 vintage of Trefethen. He placed a pair of glasses on the table and told us that the wine he was pouring had just been named “Best Chardonnay in the World” at the World Wine Olympics in Paris. The story of the Gold Medal may have influenced me, but I remember having an “aha” moment as I tasted the wine. It was my introduction to fine wine, and obviously, I remember it to this day. I reckon I have drunk more chardonnay than any other variety in my lifetime. Much of it is Trefethen.

Chardonnay is a hardy green grape that is thought to have its roots, literally, in the Burgundy region of France. If one is to believe the chaps who study such things at the University of California-Davis’s Department of Viticulture and Enology, which I most certainly do, then the genesis of chardonnay took place in eastern France in or around Burgundy when the red grape pinot noir consummated a relationship with a white grape called gouais blanc. The gouais blanc was brought to the region by the Romans, and, as is the case with so many things involving traveling Italians, nature took its course.

Today, chardonnay is the most popular white wine grape on the planet. Much of that success has to do with the fourth of those utterances I heard at Clark’s. “I’ll have a glass of chardonnay” may be the most frequently used line in all of wine. It has the panache of using a French wine word, it gets the evening started, it is direct, and it will get you a chilled glass of something delicious.

I would suggest that if you don’t have a preference for your chardonnay, ask for a glass of KJ Chardonnay by name; that would be the Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay, an always reliable, affordable, by-the-glass chardonnay that you can count on. An American bestseller for 30-plus years, the wine has a golden color, a hint of apple, tropical fruits and citrus, a trace of vanilla, and a balanced bit of butter to make this an affordable treat. It hits all the marks.

The comment about the West Sonoma Coast at Clark’s came from someone a little more discerning in what style of chardonnay they wanted. By naming a specific place, an appellation, they were suggesting that they enjoyed the specific attributes of that place. In this case, the cool-climate growing region of the Sonoma Coast north of San Francisco. This is one of the most beautiful and challenging regions for growing wine grapes in California. Rural and rustic, the vineyards of the West Sonoma Coast are constantly influenced by the ebb and flow of fog from the Pacific. The remote nature of the coastal mountains limits the number of hardy producers who make their cold climate, acidic, lean, intense, and gorgeous chardonnay bottlings. But those who persevere are legendary. Wines from producers like Littorai Wines, Hirsch Vineyards, Flowers, and Marine Layer — a personal favorite — all reflect the terroir and a sense of a special place on Earth.

Then there was the couple who wanted to add a little sparkle to their day by looking for a blanc de blanc Champagne. Blanc de blanc translates to “white from white” and means that the wine is made exclusively from white grapes and, as is the case (almost always) in the Champagne region, exclusively from chardonnay grapes. Still wines are made from various parcels of chardonnay and then blended before they undergo a secondary fermentation to produce the bubbles that are the art and magic of the wines. The fresh, crisp, bright, sparkling profile of these wines makes them a perfect pairing with seafood like that found at Clark’s. I recently had a Roederer blanc de blancs Vintage cuvée and found it to be joyous. 

Finally, we get to the guy at the end of the bar, the baller from Texas who had the great good fortune to drink the best of the best: Montrachet. Without even looking at the wine list, he ordered a bottle of the Morey-Coffinet 1er Cru Chassagne Montrachet, “En Remilly” 2022 from the birthplace of chardonnay. This wine is as rich as its price and is a prime example of what luxury in a glass can be like.  

As I said at the top, Chardonnay is versatile. One bar. Four people. One grape. Each enjoyed different expressions of the chardonnay grape in their glasses, and each had a unique and individual experience.

Thanks, Grandad.