Chardonnay All the Way!

The most popular white in the U.S. is also its most maligned. Don’t listen to the haters! This vino deserves a second look (and taste).

- JENNA HELWIG

I HATE CHARDONNAY. I also adore chardonnay. Unlike many wine varietals that stay mostly consistent regardless of where and how they’re produced, chardonnay is a shape-shifter. Made at one winery, it’s lean, crisp, and mineral tinged, with a whiff of honeysuckle and green apple. At another, it tastes like an oak-scented butter bomb. At a third, it falls somewhere in the middle, well balanced, nutty, and peerless when paired with a rich roast chicken.

This flavor crapshoot has given the ubiquitous white a bit of a bad rap—pretty unfairly. To clear things up, I spent an afternoon with New York City–based Aldo Sohm. He’s the wine director at the three-Michelin-starred Le Bernardin, a partner at Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, and the author of Wine Simple and the upcoming Wine Simple: Perfect Pairings (out in November), so I figured he was the best person to stand up for chardonnay. Here are my notes.

Two Big Factors Help Determine the Taste of a Chardonnay