As I ate the oysters
with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold
white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture,
and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the
crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to
make plans.” ― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
Roses are red
Violets are blue.
If you say you don’t like any chardonnay
I frankly just don’t understand you.
Chardonnay is first a
grape. It is used in making some of the world’s
most sought after Champaign. And Champagne is wine although it tastes
nothing like that which members of the “ABC” (“Anything But Chardonnay”) club usually
associate with chardonnay. This same chardonnay grape is used also in producing
white Burgundy wines such as the famous Chassagne-Montrachet and
Puligny-Montrachet. In the most northern
part of Burgundy, about 100 miles southeast of Paris, chardonnay is all that is grown in Chablis. No one
familiar with French wine would compare a Montrachet to a Chablis despite that they
are both made from the chardonnay grape as is also Pouilly-Fuisse – another
taste entirely and also made from chardonnay.
 |
| Mussels in white wine sauce, crusty baguette and Chablis make fiends. |
Some here, in the U.S., find
French wine labels confusing because wine is labeled by region instead of by
grape. But the confusion can just as
easily be attached to our simple labels, for all chardonnay is not the same. There
are styles of vinification that impact the finished product. Whether the juice
is fermented in wood, or aged in wood (not the same thing), whether both or
neither is used, whether malolactic fermentation is employed or prevented,
whether the juice is left to rest on its spent yeast cells (sur lie); all these decisions in various
combinations will produce different wines from the same grape. And we haven’t yet gotten to the terroir of where the grapes are farmed.
So doing a little homework
rewards you with finding the style of wine you enjoy. And with Chardonnay, the amount of homework doesn't
need to be burdensome. If you became a
self enrolled member of the ABC club because you found Chardonnay over the top
with toasty-oaky flavor, try a Chablis such as Thomas Pico’s, owner of Domaine
Pattes Loup. France recognizes that
grapes grown in different areas (soil, climate, sun, moisture and more) produce
wines of different character. And Chablis
(at the cool, northern end of Burgundy) makes for wines of briny minerality and
acidity that clean the palette rather than paint it.
Pico is attracting
international attention and independently blazing forward by looking to the
past. Against the wishes of his father,
he instituted a program of strict yield control and a move to organic/biodynamic
viticulture. He hand harvests and hand
sorts the best grapes and employs no fining or filtration before bottling. His
blended Chablis gains texture by being partially fermented, with lees stirring,
in concrete (30% – 40%) with the balance in stainless steel for
His vineyards, with vines over
55 years old, are planted with numerous clones (allowing for a varied crop and
the creativity that having such allows) on steep hillsides in cool, northern Chablis
(the most northern part of Burgundy about 100 miles southeast of Paris). The
vineyards of Chablis are actually closer to Champagne than they are to the rest
of Burgundy. The location itself requires a long growing season, allowing
complex yet subtle flavors to develop within the grapes, while preserving
freshness. In fact, conditions within Pico’s cellar are kept cold allowing for
slow settling during a 14 - 16 month elevage (the time between fermentation and
bottling).
 |
| Poached salmon over arugula and sliced fennel. Sauvignon Blanc is tasty. But you may want to pair it with a Chablis. |
The result of this effort is a
Chablis (Chardonnay) that is artful in its subtle expression of fruit against a
backbone of austere minerality and snappy acidity. Palest gold in the glass, it’s
ripe, but not heavy. Not present is the oaky, vanilla and butter (warm climate
Chardonnay) that members of the “ABC” club perhaps object to (the ones I've met
never actually were specific about the reason for their dislike). Even the wine’s nose is light, expressing the
chalky soil of its origin. It offers a chalky, orange-lemon with emphasis on
the lemon. While dry and brisk, it gives steely tastes toward green apple,
lemon and chamomile. A perfect companion to fish and oysters, it serves well
also cutting the richness of heavy white sauces.
 |
| Uncork something different. |
Wine Advocate awarded 93 points to Thomas Pico's 2010 vintage and 90 points to its 2011. International Wine Cellar awarded the 2011 vintage 91 points and Vinous (by Antonio Galloni) awarded it 91. High praise for a wine (“Chablis”) that due
to it being made as so much generic plop domestically in the 1970s had that poor
image transferred to the genuine article in Chablis.
Summer is coming. Your meals
will likely be lighter and require different wines; often lighter, crisper and
refreshing. All three elements are in
this one bottle. And at an ARP of $17, it comes with value included.
Sante!
………….. Jim
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Domaine Pattes Loup
Thomas Pico
Imported by Cream Wine
Company, Chicago
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