All the medallists from the Global Chardonnay Masters 2023

Chardonnay’s chameleon-like character makes it a highly versatile grape variety and a barometer of current trends, as Patrick Schmitt MW discovers in this year’s Global Chardonnay Masters tasting.

For some in the wine business, Chardonnay is simply a grape variety, albeit one that’s planted more widely than any other. But for others, Chardonnay is an important barometer of taste. That’s because it can be used to make such markedly different styles of still white wine, according to what’s in vogue. At the moment, it’s powerfully flavoured and richly-textured Chardonnays that are demanded, at least at the more mainstream end of the market. This is not just evident in tastings, but also on retail shelves, where sub-£20 brands seem to shout their creamy, vanilla-tasting credentials.

In contrast, so-called ‘skinny’ Chardonnay – the light, acidic sort from the 2010s – seems to have fallen out of fashion with consumers, although this lightweight style was itself a reaction to buttery, oaky versions that dominated in the 1990s, and became unpopular in the 2000s. In other words, after a period of restraint, the pendulum has swung back to a new era of indulgence.

This was endorsed by this year’s Global Chardonnay Masters – up to a point. You see, the old-school style was evident in the wines priced between £10-£15, where ripe yellow fruit flavours were married to buttercream characters. But move to over £20, and this type of Chardonnay became rarer, and the wines seemed to get skinnier, encouraging one judge to say: “It seems the more you pay, the less you get.”

In short, the judges wondered whether at the top end of the Chardonnay pricing scale, winemakers were more focused on achieving critical acclaim, and imposing their own stylistic aspirations, rather than serving an increasing call from consumers for heavy whites, which tend to be deemed unsophisticated by ‘professionals’. Indeed, crafting a highpriced, broad-textured Chardonnay takes confidence, as fellow winemakers might see it as a step backwards. Pressure is being applied to modernise.

As a result, at the top end, sulphidic Chardonnay remains dominant, referred to by judge Jonathan Pedley MW as “the struck match/leesy/citric style”. But there was diversity among the fine wines and the entry-point samples too. Among the latter, there was creamy oak, but not sweetness. And within the pricier, lighter wines there were some appealing riper characters mingling with the grapefruit pith and cinders.

Pedley observed: “Over the years it has been easy to knock the relative neutrality of Chardonnay, but looking back through my notes, the following fruit descriptions appear: apple, pear, lemon, peach, melon, banana, mango and our fruit of the day – quince!”