SOUTH AMERICAN CHARDONNAY
‘Most of the top wines shone for their fruit purity and elegance’
Only in the last decade has South American Chardonnay become something to get excited about. But, as this tasting reaffirmed, it really is worth getting excited about – especially at the premium end, with complex and engaging wines coming from the coast, desert, mountains and even the wind-beaten steppes of Patagonia (see ‘Travel’, Decanter April issue).
This impressive surge in quality is ultimately down to the intellectual journey that South America’s winemakers have been on: from their fastidious research into the multitude of soil types and microclimates (even within the same vineyard) to a much more mature approach to winemaking and an increasingly deft hand when it comes to oak ageing. My standout Chardonnay producers in this tasting all used oak (barrels and foudres) to frame their wines, but none of the wines were overshadowed by oak as they may have been a decade ago. Instead, most of the top wines shone for their fruit purity and elegance.
Chilean choice
Chile has the lion’s share of plantings with more than 11,200ha – almost double Argentina’s 6,000ha – and Chile is really South America’s Chardonnay heartland, with plantings spanning its kaleidoscope of wine regions. Although Chile is often accused of playing it a bit safe with its entry- and mid-range wines, when it comes to the premium end Chile has a buffet of exciting wines and styles to choose from. From the cloudy, unfiltered natural wine of Tara in the Atacama desert to the intriguing Goutte d’Argent made with sake yeast, and the brash style of Matetic’s wild-ferment EQ Quartz from San Antonio, there was nothing pedestrian about this tasting.
As always, Chile’s cool coastal regions really lead in quality for white wines. Limarí is the standout region for excellent coastal Chardonnay, with two of my top wines in the tasting, Tabalí’s Talinay and Amelia’s Quebrada Seca, overdelivering in both price and quality with aromatic precision, chalky mentality and chiselled acidity. Leyda Valley isn’t far behind in top quality either, with Viña Leyda’s Lot 5 standing out for complexity and value; but there were vibrant coastal wines from Casablanca, Colchagua and Curicó, too.
Southern promise
From Itata southwards, southern Chile is,
