Wine Blogging Wednesday - Unoaked Chardonnay - Drouhin Chablis
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Unoaked chardonnay is all the rage. When wine drinkers started dumping oaked California chardonnay and turning to unoaked, fruit-forward whites such as pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc, they threatened to throw the baby out with the oaky bathwater. But chardonnay has lived to see another day in its new, unoaked form.
But is it new in the Old World? In Chablis and various parts of Burgundy, the chardonnay grape often sees little oak. So when Lenn, the grandpappy of Wine Blogging Wednesday, assigned us unoaked chardonnay for this 36th, anniversary edition, my thoughts turned to Chablis. But which of them is made totally without oak as opposed to simply old, neutral oak?
I’m not sure about that, but I managed to find one that is fermented in stainless steel: Drouhin Chablis 2006, about $17 (find this wine). The resulting wine is lean and light, with good acidity, notes of lemon, lanolin and minerality with a retrograde 12.5% alcohol. It’s a very pleasant for summer wine.
Head on over to Lenndevours.com for a roundup of unoaked chardonnays from other participants in this edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday.
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On August 10th, 2007 at 5:20 pm ,Arnar Bjarnason wrote:
Oak in Chablis is less used than some years ago when some producers got to happily onto the oak-boat but I think that still in most cases 1er crus and grand crus are partially oaked or fully oaked in partially new barrels.
On August 10th, 2007 at 8:10 pm ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Arnar - Indeed. That’s why I opted for an entry level Chablis for this “unoaked” event.
On August 15th, 2007 at 10:18 pm ,El Merlé wrote:
I’ve tried over the last 10 days to prompt Lenn to indicate what wine is being proposed for the Sept.WBW to no avail. His injury has kept him, ironically, from even doing the roundup for naked Chards. Do you, as an advisor to WBW. know what is being proposed for WBW #37? I use WBW as the theme for my wineclub and I have to let them know more than two weeks out so they can decide to attend or no.
There is no reason, that the wine of the month can’t be determined for three months.
Come on guys, give me a break.
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On August 16th, 2007 at 8:37 am ,Dr. Vino wrote:
Hey El Merle -
So glad you are into the whole WBW thing! In fact, you have come to the right place since I am the coordinator for September. Check back later today for the theme…
That’s a great point about providing more advance notice. I don’t see why that couldn’t be done!