Chardonnay=POO

Since this is my blog, and I think about wine a lot, I'm going to share with all of you some of my recent thoughts regarding white wine. Lucky, lucky people.

If you know me and have tasted with me, it should be no secret to you that I strongly DISLIKE the vast majority of chardonnays. I don't like them aged in stainless steel, and I also don't like them with too much oak or malolactic fermentation. If I wanted to chew on a barrel or lick the floor of a milking parlor, I would do so. Chardonnay is going to be impossible to avoid in my future, and I hope I can approach it with dignity and poise like my pal Peter Bell. He makes tasty, food friendly chardonnay. The cool climate thing helps a lot, but, there's only one chard I will drink, and that's his. I hope mine come out something like that someday!

My room mate Jer Bear and I were talking about Semillon, and he suggested that it was often just a stand in for Chardonnay. I confessed to him that big, fatty, oil, over-oaked wines were NOT my thing. Wines that taste like crappy Thai duck from DC are NOT my thing(worse, greasiest duck of my life!!!). He looked at me and said, "We're Australia. That's what we do."

My initial reaction was "Oh no!" because I stink very much at tasting these wines. Later, I thought more about it. I'm in a warm climate, which, I probably won't work in if I can avoid it, the wines are GOING to be different. It's a good thing. I'm in classes full of Australians, who are used to drinking this wine. I offer a different perspective, I like my white wines light, jazzy, aromatic, and *gasp* maybe even a little bit fruity! (...Well, comparatively...) So, if I just start using my senses, I'll expand my horizons!

That's the whole reason I'm here, right?! Time to step up and taste the area! Bring it on, warm climate grape growing crazies!

Time to go write some letters to the fabulous people who have been writing me :-D :-D


Cheers