Chukan Brown: California should focus on high acid whites

While Chardonnay remains the darling of the California white wine scene, winemakers in the Golden State should be focusing on high acid whites, according to wine educator Elaine Chukan Brown.

Wine writer and educator Elaine Chukan Brown is impressed by the breadth of Chardonnay styles in Sonoma

Speaking to db during a recent trip to California, wine writer and educator Chukan Brown said: “California would do well to focus on high acid whites, and white Rhône varieties like Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier.

“People are looking for new areas to make California wine and are asking what it means to make California wines with interest. Winemakers are experimenting with lesser-known white varieties like Vermentino because the grape prices are cheaper.

In terms of the differences between Napa and Sonoma Chardonnay, Chukan Brown believes Sonoma produces more restrained expressions.

High acid white varieties like Vermentino are the way forward for California winemakers, believes wine writer and educator Elaine Chukan Brown

“Sonoma Chardonnay is not as full-blown and rich as Napa Chard, but has that respect for richness.

“There is a much broader range of Chardonnay styles in Sonoma now. The region’s very cool sites produce quite lean and bony styles if you like that kind of thing,” she said.

“Until the 1980s, California winemakers made all whites as if they were Riesling. Then Hanzell Vineyards came along and encouraged things like texture, malolactic fermentation and barrel ageing in whites,” she added.

As for the California Pinot Noir phenomenon, Chukan Brown said that it’s easy to forget how recent its rise to prominence has been.

“California Pinot Noir is insanely popular now, people forget how recent the phenomenon is – it only really kicked off in the 1990s after Williams Selyem in Healdsburg put California Pinot on the map in the 1980s.

“People are much more thoughtful now when it comes to making California Pinot, and are doing one punchdown a day when it used to be protocol to do it every three hours. The wines are much less extracted than they used to be,” she said.

“In California’s mountain Pinots you’ll find a conifer evergreen freshness, but there are certain parts of California where the growing conditions encourage bigger Pinots with more compaction in the fruit.

“De-stemmed Pinot is popular for smoothness, but there is also a lot of experimentation going on with whole cluster ferments for an added structural element. You can find excellent examples of both styles,” she added.