Chardonnays are a variety of grapes, which
are used and are very popular in producing a
variety of white wines. It is basically a
green skinned grape, tracing its origins to
the Burgundy wine regions of Eastern France.
The grape is now widely grown all over the
world. This variety is now grown in all
major wine production centers all over the
world such as produces from England,
Australia and New Zealand. This has
traditionally been known as a very easy
grape to grow and most emerging wine markets
and vineyards try their hand at wine making
by initially trying to grow this variety. In
a sense of the word growing a chardonnay is
a form of rite to passage for any wine
making company and country.
The grape
in itself is known to be of a very neutral
nature, the flavors and textures often
described while commenting on these grapes
is that they have influences of terroir and
oak. The processes used in all the different
parts of the world are quite varied to
vinify these grapes. They are used in the
exceptionally elegant and often described as
flinty wines of Chablis to the very rich and
buttery flavors of Meursaults produced in
the newer wine producing regions of the
world. The chardonnay forms the basis or
many of the sparkling white wines as well as
many champagnes produced all over the world.
They gained there notoriety and popularity
in the 1980’s. There has been criticism
though of the grape as it is believed that
they have tended to hijack the native grape
variety and harm the local wine production.
This trend has gone on now for a while and
traditionalists say that this is a form of
globalization of wines. Despite of all the
criticism associated with this variety it is
still one of the most widely cultivated
grape species with over 400,000 acres of
plantation world over. These figures are
second only to Airen form among the white
wine grapes. The most popular remaining the
Cabernet Sauvignon
