Contrarian Chardonnay

What, no oak?

What, no sugar?

And you call yourself a California wine maker. Shame, shame, shame.

Right in the middle of my recent snit over sweet, oaky California Chardonnay, what should slip over the transom, but a nice under-oaked Chardonnay, completely screwing up my tirade.

Now let’s be clear about this, we all know California leads the American wine market (mostly by the nose), and so when the Golden State dictates sweet, over-oaked Chardonnay, the U.S. consumer salutes, and cries, ‘bring it on.’

So, I was surprised, if not shocked, when I received a bottle of this Festival ’34, 2007 Central Coast Chardonnay, $13, which (back label) describes itself as ‘crisp… with hints of refreshing citrus.’ Key words for –no oak. By the way, keep an eye on back label descriptors. If you see words like buttery, vanilla, toasty, you know you’re in for an oak ride.

And did this one live up to its self description?

Sure enough, despite fairly high alcohol (13.5) it is crisp. And yes, there are citrus notes. Very aromatic with hints of peach and apple. It’s lean, with intense flavors of green apple, lemon, and a slight grassiness, almost like a sauvignon blanc. Almost.

In other words, a fruit driven, wonderfully tasty Chard.

I gather from the accompanying (vague) notes, this a new winery (or label), so not sure about distribution, but if you want to support the effort to trim excessively oaky wines –look for it.