In California, oaked chardonnay was once the norm, with its faint accents of butterscotch. Nowadays, the unoaked style has come into its own, and this seems likely to continue. Almost all of the world’s white wines are unoaked, and the current fashion favors refreshment over richness, so it’s no surprise that even chardonnay specialists known for an oakier style might want to broaden their portfolio.
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Kendall-Jackson is not just known for its chardonnay — the brand has helped to define California chardonnay as an oaky white wine in the minds of Americans. Their “Vintner’s Reserve” bottling has been the top-selling chardonnay brand in the U.S. for over 30 years. That wine has always featured the bright apple-pear profile of the chardonnay grape itself, intensified and enriched with a layer of flavors derived from fermentation and aging in new oak barrels, adding a taste similar to butter pecan ice cream.
Applying new oak to a chardonnay wine results in the kinds of flavors you get when you add butter and sugar to fresh apples and bake them. So when chardonnay is labeled as “unoaked,” shoppers should not expect that caramelized quality. Instead, they will find a flavor profile that is lighter and more tangy — closer to that of fresh apples and pears than to baked fruit desserts — since no new toasted oak is involved.
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The grapes for Kendall-Jackson’s Avant chardonnay are sourced entirely from coastal counties of California, adding a bright lemony freshness and hints of pineapple to chardonnay’s apple-pear core that make it a great partner for seafood and poultry.
Kendall-Jackson “Avant” Unoaked Chardonnay
California; 13.8% ABV
PLCB Item #3697 – on sale for $14.99 through Oct. 4 (regularly $17.99)
Also available at: Total Wine & More ($12.99, totalwine.com) in Wilmington and Claymont, Del.; Hopewell Super Buy Rite ($13.99, buyrite.wine) in Pennington, N.J.; WineWorks ($14.98, wineworksonline.com) in Marlton, N.J.
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