Good Morning!

I was reminded this morning that tomorrow is National Unoaked Chardonnay Day. I love anyday that has a wine, food, basketball, softball, winemaking, watercolors, beer well, you get this…I LOVE Unoaked Chardonnay and will gladly celebrate it on June 1st.

You might ask what is Unoaked Chardonnay? Well, it is a wine making style. It is when the winemaker lets the chardonnay grapes reach the optimum “brix” (fancy word for sugar levels or maturity of the grapes) and then you pick them. With white wines you press the grapes right away, unlike red grapes that you let ferment before you press them. So once the chardonnay grapes are pressed you can ferment in stainless steel tanks or you can ferment in oak barrels.

You create or better yet, you express the true personality of the chardonnay when you ferment in the stainless steel. Stainless steel can not impart any favors to the wine. With oak fermentation you get a wine that will pick up the favors from the oak like, vanilla, oak, buttery flavors to name just a few. I personally find that if a wine drinker likes some of the white wines that are not fermented or aged in oak, like Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, they will love the unoaked chardonnay as well. The weight of the wine in your mouth might feel slightly heavier that a Pinot Grigio. I find chardonnay that is fermented and aged without the oak to be lively, notes of citrus and really crisp without the bite of sharp acid…at least this is what I experience, your palate is your guide, go with it.

I would suggest comparing a Chardonnay that has been made in a traditional way with the oak aging and an unoaked Chardonnay…first of all it is great fun to try and I might even suggest making a buttery shrimp scampi or lobster and do a little taste testing and play with both wines and the dish. Or if cooking is not your thing go to the store and grab these two cheeses and both styles of Chardonnay and have a little fun with pairing each of them with each wine…get some Asiago cheese and pick up either Cheddar or Edam. One wine will taste lighter and more crisp and the other will taste more buttery and thicker or heavier and the same goes for the cheese. One is kinda buttery and salty and the other is rich and nutty. But this will be a fun little experiment for you to try and spend less than $30 on the wine and cheeses.

Tomorrow night I am sure 1000’s of people are going to try new unoaked chardonnay and be tweeting about it and I will join in as well and be writing down the brands of wine I have not hear of or tried yet so I can add them to my list of wines to look for. My favorite winemaker of this unoaked style wine is Cindy Cosco the winemaking genius of Passaggio Wines, if you get a chance check out her wines on www.passaggio.com they are AWESOME!

Let me know if you try any unoaked chardonnay and what your results were..I can’t wait to compare notes and stories!

Much LOVE and wine,
Tammi