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We just concluded the third and final installment to the video series, “Chardonnay Three-Way,” with a guide to some Chardonnay and food pairing ideas!
Check out our guide to food and wine pairing as well as a Chardonnay-specific article with even more food and wine pairing ideas.
In episode one, Annie tasted three Chardonnays from different places, at very different price points.
Does cost matter in wine?
Why does wine cost so much? This video explains what happens when wine leaves the winery to influence the price tag.
We’ll also talk about why it might matter to someone like Annie, but not to everyone, and why it doesn’t have to!
We’ll tasted a California Chardonnay, An Argentinian Chardonnay, and a Burgundy.
Wines featured in the video are:
1) America’s own Bogle Vineyards Barrel-Fermented Chardonnay from California (Under $10)
FIND IT ONLINE.
2) Catena Zapata’s Catena Chardonnay 2015 From Mendoza, Argentina (Under $20)
FIND ONE ONLINE.
3) Chablis Premier Cru “Vaillons,” Defaix 2005 (Over $50)
FIND ONE ONLINE:
A Sommelier Tastes Three Chardonnays at different prices
In Episode 2: Taste Chardonnay Three Ways, Annie gives tasting notes on all three wines so you can get to know Chardonnay at different price points. As she explains, this is barely the ultimate guide to Chardonnay, as all three are similarly aged in oak barrels, although Catena Chardonnay and Bogle Chardonnay use new American Oak, while the Chablis is definitely more subtle, French Oak.
FYI We will compare oaked and unoaked Chardonnay in another video down the line!
Chardonnay and Food Pairing Tips
In this installment we talk about food and wine pairing. Annie prepared three dishes, one for each wine. Click the links to download them in PDF, and let us know if you try them out!
Bogle Chardonnay
For Bogle Chardonnay, half of the grapes are fermented in oak barrels which imparts a classic buttery quality along with a finish of fresh-baked pie. There is some stainless-steel fermented juice in the mix as well, for balance, which offers lovely zesty acidity and distinctive notes of green apple.
We wanted at least one vegetarian option, so we did an appetizer with ricotta cheese, flavored with black pepper, cinnamon, and lemon zest inside of puff pastry shells and topped with Granny Smith Apples.
Catena Chardonnay
For the Catena Chardonnay we wanted something with flavors. This wine is made with grapes from four different vineyards, each with different solid types, including some alluvial, volcanic soil that imparts a smoky mineral note. Mendoza is a mountainous region that gets a lot of sun, not a lot of rain and experiences great temperature fluctuations. That means big, juicy grapes and a lot of round fruity flavors as well as those flinty mineral notes. Part of this wine is also aged in oak so you have a full spectrum of sumptuous Chardonnay to play with.
We did smoked salmon (Lox) with dill and crème fraîche on a sesame cracker. It was an amazing pairing! Even better than expected. The sweet fruit notes balanced the salt on the salmon, and in return, the salmon helped bring out the lovely mineral notes in the wine.
Chablis
For the Chablis, which has an extraordinary nose, complete with the distinctive mineral notes that that make Chablis famous, along with evolved ripe fruit qualities.
We opted for a classic French food and wine pairing, Poulet Rotie, or in this case, for ease and a bit of laziness, we made roasted chicken drumsticks with lemon, thyme and butter.
The crispy chicken skin struck a perfect balance with the energy and verve of acidity still present in the wine, while the super-long finish and mouth-watering palate exalted the luminous flavors of lemon and thyme.
Check out the pairings and if you like the video, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the channel so we can keep making more of them.
LINKS:
https://boglewinery.com/wine/chardonnay/
http://www.bernard-defaix.com/en/domaine-defaix-les-vins
http://www.catenawines.com/catena-chardonnay
