Panel Tasting - Chardonnay around the World.

15 October 2005.

The second 'Cork and Bottle' panel tasting was all about Chardonnay. Tasted blind were six different wines again coming from varying sources. This time the brief was fairly unspecific; it had to be Chardonnay, cost no more than £12 and two bottles had to come from the supermarket, two from independent retailers and two via mail-order or internet. Ok, one of them came from a vinothek in Neustadt in Germany. You're probably not going to find it anywhere in the UK, but it made for an interesting tasting experience nonetheless.

The tasting was done completely blind, with all wines decanted into generic, marked bottles and bagged up by a different person to the decanter. This ensured none of the panel knew which was which.

In conclusion, the standard of the wines was pretty good overall. No real corkers and one five-star wine is pretty good going and shows that Chardonnay is moving away from overoaked, syrupy styles to a more restrained style. Not entirely surprising with a market looking for fresher, younger and easier-drinking wines. Plenty of them, but also some more serious 'food-wines'

Here they are in order of merit:

Wolf Blass - President's Selection

South Australia 2004

Tesco - £9.99

Well done! Classic Chardonnay stuff. A fresh nose, reminiscent of buttermilk with a light woody note and some tropical fruit. The palate is luscious, rich, with a buttery creaminess. It has a lovely balance with some fresh tropical fruit as well, mango and papaya. Topped off with a great length, this is stunningly good. As one taster described it; 'keep licking those lips'.

5 Stars (29/30)

Click here for a photo of Wolf Blass, President of the IWSC 2005, presenting the 'Distiller of the Year' trophy to Glenlivet.

Rully

Louis Jadot

Burgundy 2001

Oddbins - £11.49

A very different wine from the Wolf Blass. Rully is one of the villages in the Cote Chalonnaise, effectively the southern part of Burgundy. Louis Jadot is probably one of the best-known merchant houses in Burgundy and generally makes pretty good wine.

This Rully is a bit of a loner in a lake of new-world wines. For starters it's the only French wine and the only one that has any age to it. All the others came from the 2004 vintage. The age is immediately obvious on the nose and even by looking at it. It has a lovely deeper golden colour. The nose is verging towards caramel with soft oak and slightly oxidised, reminding me a bit of sherry. Some of us picked up on a fig aroma. On the palate it is creamy, slightly nutty, with a decent length. A fairly complex wine, but not really for drinking on its own. Great with the delicious spaghetti carbonara we had after the tasting.

4 Stars (21/30)

Vina Tarapaca

Chardonnay 2004

Central Valley - Chile

Sunday Times Wine Club - £5.70

Moving away from the more classic styles of Chardonnay, this one betrayed it's new world heritage on the nose. A slight chemical note, reminding me strawberry fruitella, not unpleasant though. It was also slightly greener than the others, all of which points to cooler climate (Chile) and probably cool fermentation as well. The palate showed up- front tropical fruits and a hint of liquorice. Fruit salad was mentioned more than once.

3 Stars (19/30)

Schadler

Steffen Mugler

Chardonnay Trocken 2004

Pfalz - Germany

Amboss Vinothek - Neustadt (Germany) - €4.20

This wine was brought back from the Pfalz region on our recent trip to Germany. At some point I'll tell you all about Amboss Vinothek, but for now about the wine. Never really a serious contender as it will be pretty impossible to get in the UK, it made interesting tasting. The nose is quite pure and floral, slightly green. More like Sauvignon Blanc. Quite sharp on the palate, that famous German acidity showing through no doubt. It is fairly simple, light Chardonnay with a 'lemon-pie' sweetness to it. Easy drinking, just not very complex. Ok, it's probably the cheapest wine on the table, but by the time you convert the Euros into Pounds and add on the Chancellor's share, you're probably talking 6 or 7 Pounds.

3 Stars (16/30)

Peter Lehman

Wildcard

Chardonnay 2004

Oddbins - £5.99

A light young wine with the hallmark Australian tropical fruit on the nose and a slight oaky note. Fresh lemon sherbet, but simple, no real complexity. A bit of creaminess and some liquorice. The nose is more expressive than the palate, which is unfortunate as that lets it down a bit. Then again, it's fresh and easy drinking.

3 Stars (15/30)

Jacob's Creek

Chardonnay 2004

South Eastern Australia

Tesco - £4.99 (£3.99 on special offer)

A green, young nose, quite vegetal and then the vanilla just takes over. The acidity is fairly high, which gives it some freshness and there is some passion fruit on the palate. Frankly a bit boring. As one of the tasters remarked, it's Friday night in front of the television wine. And that's probably where most of it goes.

2 Star (14/30)