Relearning My ABCs

I recently received, as gifts, two bottles of Chardonnay. One is from California, one is from Chile. I never, ever buy myself Chardonnays from either country, in fact I almost never buy Chardonnay of any kind (even Chablis), so I thought it would be interesting to taste these two side by side. Basically to see if there was anything redeeming about them at all. It's not fair, I know, to charge these two bottles with reversing my opinion of two continents and one of the world's most popular varietals, but I figured they're likely to be reasonably representative. First down my gullet was the Mont Gras 2005 Reserva from Colchagua Valley. It surprised me out of the bottle, being pale greenish-silver, an unusual colour for Chardonnay, which so often looks like piss from a cat with kidney trouble. The aroma was also pleasant, with some peach tarted up with green apple. In the mouth, though, the dreaded oak. I admit I was looking for it and it's more restrained than some, but it leaps out over the initial rather nice fruit character and drowns it, lingering into the finish and, nastily, on the roof of my mouth. I grant that there is a certain freshness that's not entirely unpleasant, and if this sounds like your sort of wine, it can be purchased here for $8.99


Next up is the 2003 Distant Bay Chardonnay from Monterey. Oh how nice of them to make it rhyme so. This glass is rather more colourful, but less aromatic. It smells like nothing so much as paint. It's making my eyes water. Really. I'm not getting any sort of fruit off this. So might as well taste it. Right away there is a good tartness, but again the oak comes in over it and just drowns it. Is this what winemakers mean by "rich?" Here the contrast is stronger, the fruit is tarter and the oak's vanilla sweetness more pronounced. As there is above, there's probably a nice enough wine there, but it's trapped in a big, fat oak coffin. Interestingly, tasted next to the Chilean, the tartness is much more apparent, while the longer creamier finish of the Mont Gras is highlighted by the side-by-side the comparison. I'd imagine that the Chilean goes better with food, but I'm still never going to buy either. Should you wish to, it's $12.99 here.