chardonnay
On May 14, 2021 we had our chardonnay tasting. We are both big fans of the grape and consider it one of our favorites so we were extra excited for this one. With a mix of oak and stainless varietals, a menu was designed to pair with both styles and we tasted the unoaked, or "naked" as some wineries like to call it, first and finished with the oaked. The wines we had on hand for this tasting were Catoctin Breeze's stainless chardonnay, Boordy's lightly oaked chardonnay, Elk Run's oaked chardonnay and Bordeleau's oaked chardonnay. For the menu, there were crab cakes, shrimp scampi, strawberry/goat cheese filo cups, kale chips, blueberry goat cheese and hummus, crackers and sliced vegetables. Chardonnay is one of the worlds most popular grapes due to its versatility and ability to take on so many different flavors based on the climate it is grown in and style it is aged in. A cool climate chardonnay will have greener fruit flavors like apple and melon and higher acidity and lemon flavors. Warmer climates will produce more stone fruits like pineapple and mango and lower acidity. Oak aging will introduce those buttery, vanilla notes. For local ones in this area, we were expecting more stone fruits and of course the oak aging butteriness and vanilla in especially Elk Run and Bordeleau's vintages. Chardonnay is, of course, known for being one of the grapes used in making french wines such as chablis, pouilly-fuisse and champagne but those styles would be very different from these for a few reasons. France's cooler climate being one and the U.S's use of stronger oak flavors is a big style difference. Old world versus new world essentially. So we started with our first pairing, Catoctin's stainless chardonnay. It was very bright and crisp with a lot of lemon and melon flavors. This paired very well with the creamy goat cheese cups and the fat in the buttery shrimp scampi. Boordy's was next, with notes of lemon, lime and orange but a slightly smoother finish as it did see 6 months of French oak. It wasn't oaky or buttery but very balanced. It paired well with the crab cakes and goat cheese crackers. Then we got a bit oakier with the Elk Run chardonnay. Very complex as you started off with apple, pineapple and lemon and then had a nice creamy, buttery finish. The kale chips and hummus that overpowered the first two wines were great with this one. Last was Bordeleau's. The only one of the three aged on the lees method, which is a French technique where the wine is rotated in the barrel on top of the yeast to add complexity and creaminess. The oakiest and creamiest of the 4 wines, with great vanilla notes. This also paired very well with the kale chips, hummus and crab cakes. We thoroughly enjoyed this tasting with 4 of the better representations of chardonnay in the state at the time. It doesn't look like Catoctin is making that chardonnay any longer but Elk Run, Bordeleau and Boordy still are. Also worth noting is that Boordy is currently making their chardonnay on the lees method, as well, so give it a taste if you haven't tried it yet.
