English Chardonnay – helping Chardonnay regain its reputation

Why Chardonnay is becoming England’s favourite again

Chardonnay has had a bit of a bad rap over the years. We’ve all heard, or perhaps even muttered ourselves, “Anything but Chardonnay” - a phrase coined following the white wine’s spectacular fall from grace in the 1990s.

However, the Chardonnay grape is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious and respected still and sparkling white wines. In France, it’s the only varietal permitted to be grown in Burgundy’s celebrated northern-most wine region, Chablis, and it’s the main grape variety used in the ‘Big three’ Champagne blend, along with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. 

What is Chardonnay?

 The Chardonnay grape thrives in both warm and cool climate regions so it’s no surprise that it’s grown in pretty much every commercial grape growing region across the globe, resulting in a diverse range of styles.

 In cool climates, such as Chablis, it tends to be medium to light body with noticeable acidity and flavours of green plum, apple, and pear, while in warmer locations, such as Australia the flavours become more citrus and stone fruits. In the warmest locations Chardonnay is grown in, it develops tropical fruit notes such as banana and mango.

 Once the UK’s favourite wine, Chardonnay gained a bad reputation after wine producers in Australia, California and South America began adding oak flavouring to their wines in a bid to emulate the high-end wines grown in Burgundy and other areas of Europe.

 This much cheaper way of adding oak characteristics to wine involves staving – inserting oak blocks into the stainless steel vats the wine is made in – or chipping, where wood chips are added into the vat. In some cases, oak essence was added to the wine.

 These over oaky New-World wines soon fell out of favour, bringing the reputation of the grape as a whole with it. However, in more recent years Chardonnay has emerged from the shadows and is finally beginning to be appreciated again – particularly by wine growers in England.

English Chardonnay

 Chardonnay is the most popular grape variety in England, accounting for almost a third of vines planted here. It’s a huge switch from the 1990s, when Müller-Thurgau, Reichensteiner and Seyval Blanc filled England’s vineyards and Chardonnay made up just 2% of the vines.

That switch has come about for a couple of reasons. Firstly, our summers have got warmer meaning the noble varieties like Chardonnay can now fully ripen in England and secondly – and probably more importantly – it’s because of the success in recent years of English sparkling wine, of which Chardonnay is the main component. Sparkling wine requires acid and, due to our relatively cool climate, England’s grapes have plenty of that. 

Nyetimber in Sussex is possibly the most famous of all the English sparkling wine producers, largely because of the reputation they built on the first wines they made here, after planting the holy trinity of sparkling wine grapes – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – back in 1988. 

This really got the wine world talking about English wine – they were the first bottles of UK fizz that made people realize English sparkling wine wasn’t just good, it could be world class. Since then other vineyards in the South East have followed suit and England – particularly the South East – is now renowned for its award-winning sparkling wines.

But there is also an increasing number of still Chardonnay wines being produced in England, showcasing the distinct flavour characteristics of the grape and various winemaking techniques adopted here.

Some new vineyards release still Chardonnay while waiting for their sparkling wine to be ready for market but for other producers, the still wine is their main focus. These still Chardonnays pair particularly well with fish – the lighter unoaked styles with sushi, shell or grilled fish and the more robust varieties with salmon, chicken and hard cheeses.

In the same way English sparkling wine holds its own against some of the best Champagnes, English chardonnay is also giving Chablis a run for its money. Here are a few of our favourites. 

HUSH HEATH SPRINGFIELD CHARDONNAY 2018

This fabulous Chardonnay from the superb 2018 vintage is clean and bright with a long finish, displaying the mineral notes of lime and salt. Fermented in cool stainless steel, it is then partly aged in French and American Oak to add depth and complexity to the flavour, resulting in an intense yet elegant wine. As a food pairing, oysters, pan fried fish and green salad would be superb dishes to go with this excellent example of an English Chardonnay.

SIMPSONS GRAVEL CASTLE CHARDONNAY 2020

Made with grapes grown on both sides of a valley in Kent, this cool climate-style Chardonnay has a fresh mineral aroma with hints of lemon and green apple. The mineral and green apple continue on the palate, which is bone dry and has a touch of oatmeal and dairy to its finish. One for the Chablis lovers.

SIMPSONS ROMAN ROAD CHARDONNAY 2019

Another stunner from husband and wife team Charles and Ruth Simpson, who gained their deep knowledge of winemaking in the Languedoc region of France before opening their vineyard just outside Canterbury. This elegant, single vineyard Chardonnay is created from fruit specially selected for its maturity and concentration and has youthful fresh aromatics of ripe white peach, cream, salted butter, pineapple and cedar. Ripe lemon and crisp green apple liven up the palate, while oak offers some cedar, nut and light vanilla notes that will develop well over the coming three to five years.