Wine-Searcher: The World's Most Wanted Chardonnays

Burgundy might be the spiritual home of Chardonnay, but the grape variety is truly a citizen of the world these days.

Few grapes have spread as far and as successfully, with Chardonnay featuring in the most popular lists from virtually every wine-producing country (except Germany, obviously, since they appear willfully determined to be different), with particular success in what is still condescendingly referred to as the New World.

South America makes excellent Chardonnay, as does South Africa; Australia and New Zealand have some exquisite examples, while the US developed its own distinctive style, a hymn to opulence that would leave most Burgundian winemakers aghast.

There are many reasons that Chardonnay is so popular with winemakers. First, it's versatile; there are many styles of Chardonnay, allowing winemakers to experiment and have some fun with the variety. To be honest, Chardonnay grapes are not entirely distinctive on their own, which is why winemakers take such delight in throwing lees aging, malo-lactic fermentation, barrel fermentation and reduction at their wines.

That range of styles – from clean, crisp Chablis-style wines fermented in stainless steel to big, buxom powerful wines driven by creaminess and vast quantities of vanillin oak to deep, sulfurous reductive styles that smell like a Revolutionary War battlefield – isn't just popular with winemakers. Consumers love Chardonnay, despite what opinion formers might say. For all the dire warnings down the years that people were getting sick of Chardonnay (and would soon be drinking Riesling, or Sherry or Picpoul, or whichever variety was in vogue with somms and wine writers at the time), the general public has remained steadfastly true to Chardonnay.

And that situation is unlikely to change anytime soon. Search statistics for Chardonnay on our database remain very healthy indeed, whether they are the vertiginously priced wines of Burgundy or the more comfortably "everyday" wines from elsewhere. And speaking of Burgundy, a note about this list: Burgundy has been removed from the reckoning, as its utter dominance of the search stats requires a separate listing, which will be published soon.

Such is that dominance that there are only 12 non-Burgundy wines in the 100 most searched-for Chardonnays. Let's check out the top 10.

The World's Most Wanted Chardonnays on Wine-Searcher:

See what we mean about global appeal? Four countries represented, and all as far apart as you could imagine. And while the "Old World" only has one selection (the Gaja), the rest of the world is quite happily filling the gaps.

Napa does well, as you'd expect, with four entries, followed by two for Sonoma Coast, two for Australia (proving that it isn't just big reds that flow from the Lucky Country) and New Zealand bucks its Sauvignon Blanc-heavy image with the sublime Mate's Vineyard Chardonnay from Kumeu River.

Despite the variety of origin, though, there's a little less diversity than it might appear. The last time we ran the non-Burgundy version of this list nine of these wines made the cut – this year, the Giaconda Estate replaces the Kistler from Sonoma Valley – which suggests that, while people are happy to look beyond the usual places for their Chardonnays, it is specific brands they are looking for rather than geographical variety.

The prices of these wines are interesting, too. While nine of the wines have gone up in price (although all by reasonable margins, at least relative to the often wildly fluctuating standards of wine prices) the Kongsgaard Judge has actually gone down in price, from $984 in 2022. It's not a huge drop, but it does suggest that there is a definite ceiling for non-Burgundy Chardonnay, and that ceiling is the magic $1000 mark.

But, while people might have limits when it comes to the prices they will pay, there is no limit to their love of Chardonnay. Long may that continue.

Source: Wine-Searcher