What is up my name is constantin baum I’m a master of wine a retailer and a Consultant And this is my channel where we’re Thirsty for knowledge And wine this is wine in 10 where i tell You Everything you need to know about a Grape variety or a region but first of All i want to thank you for 1 000 Subscribers This is really amazing at least for me If you haven’t subscribed yet Then make sure that you hit that Subscribe button to become part of the First 2000 subscribers i have a blog nose so Fortunately i don’t have to do a wine Tasting today after Talking about riesling a few videos back I now want to focus on the other Great white grape variety the number one Terroir transporter and shapeshifter in The wine world Chardonnay [Music] So what is chardonnay chardonnay first And foremost is the most widely planted White grape variety in the world After a grape variety called ireland but Ireland is used for brandy production Quite a bit So you could argue that chardonnay is Probably the most widely
Planted white grape variety used for Wine making So 210 000 hectares of chardonnay Vineyards are planted all around the World But what is really interesting about Chardonnay is that it also produces some Of the most sought After and most expensive wines i call it The shapeshifter because the varietal Expression of chardonnay is strongly Influenced By the place where it grows and the way It is treated in the winery Chardonnay is also so successful that it Has been despised and demonized by Summer years All around the world abc anything but Chardonnay became the acronym That described the resistance to the Grape variety that everyone loved to Drink Even though chardonnay is that famous It’s actually in more wines Than people think every summer you had The situation where a guest Asked for a chardonnay you brought a Chablis And the guest gets mad at you because You didn’t bring A chardonnay Dude like with every famous grape Variety there are lots of stories About the origins of charonny we now
Know that it’s a natural Cross between pinot noir and grace blau And it’s likely from burgundy where it Was first mentioned In the 17th century it has probably been Named after the village of chardonnay in Burgundy’s makone And in the past chardonnay has been Confused with the grape variety pinot Glo Quite often why is that you might wonder Let’s look At the bible So chardonnay has those small Cylindrical Grapes with leaves that have three to Five lobes and that look pretty similar To pinot leaves One reason for chardonnay success is That it grows in a pretty wide range of Climates And it can produce high yields so you Can also use it for Commercial wine production but if you Want quality Then you really have to make sure that The years are pretty low The vine is very vigorous and it buds Pretty early which means that it is Susceptible to spring frost kulua and Milorandage are pretty common with Chardonnay which basically means that You have a lot of shot berries that Don’t really grow to full size
On a bunch which can be an issue when it Comes to Wine production because your yields also Will be lower another problem with Chardonnay is that the skins are pretty Thin Which means that it can be attacked by Botrytis and other forms of rot Quite easily picking time is super Important when it comes to chardonnay The bunches can lose acidity and gain Sugar quite easily Which will lead to more alcohol in the Final wine So that is also why you have a big range From Very elegant delicate fresh and light And alcohol wines to really rich Concentrated Exotic and alcoholic chardonnays clones Are also very important when it comes to Chardonnay A clone of a grape variety might be Available in large numbers But all of the vines have the same dna Because all of them originate from Cuttings from the same Mother vine so if you pick chardonnay Clones 75 78 or 121 you’d be able to produce more Quantity if you pick 76 95 or 96 Instead you’d be able to produce higher Levels of quality So as you can see it doesn’t really end
With knowing more about the great Variety you also need to understand the Clones in order to really understand What you have in the glass in front of You so when it comes to wine making the Grape variety actually offers the wine Maker lots of different options To work with it in the cellar you can Use stainless steel Bariques large oak fooders you can do Mololactic fermentation or not You can do least stirring with Chardonnay there are plenty of different Options As a general rule most of the greatest Chardonnays in the world Follow the burgundy model which means Fermentation And maturation in small barriques Chardonnay is also used in sparkling Wine production quite a bit And it is the only white grape variety That is allowed to be used In champagne well that was actually a Lie the rules in champagne Also allow arban pity mesli Pinot gris and pinot blanc to be used in The production of champagne but they are Very Rarely used so chardonnay does really Well at a lot of things but the only Style chardonnay struggles with Is sweet wines they are very few great Sweet wines being made from chardonnay
So where does chardonnay grow Well actually where doesn’t chardonnay Grow there are 210 000 hectares of vineyards planted to Chardonnay all around the world And they are spread out across 41 Different countries Chardonnay has conquered all wine making Continents And it is crucial for quality wine Production In quite a few different countries so The number one chardonnay making country In the world Is pretty obvious it’s france with 50 000 Hectares of vineyards planted to Chardonnay it’s in second place only Behind uni One could argue that the best Chardonnays in the world are made in Burgundy But what is pretty clear is that the Most expensive chardonnays Are from burmany so if you look at the List of the most expensive wines on wine Searcher Four of the wines in the top ten are White wines and three out of those four Are chardonnays from burgundy that are Actually From the hill of montresi and one is a German riesling So have a look at my video on burgundy
If you want to find out more about the Region i’ll link it up somewhere up There So in second place we have the usa 43 000 hectares of chardonnay vineyards are Planted in the usa But it’s currently kind of stagnating And there are other white grape Varieties that are becoming more and More important California is the most important region When it comes to chardonnay and there Are some Truly amazing chardonnays coming out of Napa sonoma And santa barbara for example oregon and Washington state also produce some great Chardonnays but they are produced in Much much smaller quantities in third Place we have australia With 21 000 hectares of chardonnay Vineyards it’s the third Most planted grape variety in down under After shibraz and cabernet sauvignon Australia first started off with really Rich And oaky chardonnays some of them were Really cheap But since the 2000s the style has Changed quite a bit and there are more And more producers Focusing on freshness and vibrancy in Their chardonnays so number four Might come as a bit of a surprise it was
Actually a surprise for me It’s italy there are actually some Really high end chardonnays coming out Of italy like gaia’s gaia Chardonnay but most of the chardonnay Plantings in italy are actually used for Sparkling wine production So in 5th place we have chili with 12 000 hectares Of chardonnay vineyards chardonnay is Now planted in most major Wine making regions but there are still No really Famous chardonnays coming out of chile But there are some really nice examples So which glass would you use for Chardonnay I actually broke my favorite chardonnay Glass quite recently but i would use This glass for fine elegant chardonnays Like shablee for example And this glass which is a big pinot noir Glass for richer Concentrated and more oaky chardonnays So when it comes to flavored profile Chardonnay isn’t An aromatic grape variety chardonnay is From cool climates Smell of lemon peel chardonnays from Warmer climates can smell of Mango and pear drops on the palate Chardonnay tends to be richer With medium acidity and a lot of Chardonnays are either
Aged in oak or flavoured with oak chips Thank you for watching i hope you Learned something here If you liked the video then please like It down here subscribe to my channel To make sure that you’re not missing one Of my upcoming really cool Videos my question of the day is what is Your Favorite chardonnay please let me know Down here in the comment section I hope i see you again soon until then Stay [Music] Thirsty