Chardonnay

Chardonnay is one of the most successful white wines in the world. It has buttery rich flavors often mingled with zesty fruits and vanilla. A good chardonnay is creamy, lush and plump with nice acidity and strong fruit.

Chardonnay is often fermented and aged briefly in oak barrels. That's where some of the rich, creamy, drawn out nature of chardonnay comes from. But too long in the oak can overdo it.

The chardonnay grape is grown in many parts of the world and is produced and bottled in Argentina, Australia, California, Chile, France, especially Burgundy, Champagne and the Languedoc-Roussillon, Italy in the Tre Venezie and Tuscany, New York State, especially on Long Island, New Zealand, Oregon (my home), South Africa, Texas, Virginia and Washington State.