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Slideshow
The world’s best Chardonnays for under £20
We bring you the best-performing Chardonnays under £20 from The Drinks Business Global Chardonnay Masters 2016, including wines from South Africa to Sicily, and Israel to Australia. By Lauren Eads and Patrick Schmitt MW.
Over the following pages we have selected the cream of the crop from our Global Chardonnay Masters 2016, taking in labels from a surprisingly broad range of regions, along with plenty from places you might expect to craft great wine from this noble grape.
What makes these wines special is our judging process – each of these Chardonnays have been judged blind without any knowledge of their source country, allowing our experts to asses them purely for quality without prejudice about their region of origin.
Furthermore, the following labels have been selected by an exacting panel of judges, made up of Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers, and have all achieved a gold medal or our ultimate accolade, the title of Master, which is only awarded to wines that receive an average score of more than 95 points.
While this is just a selection of the top-performers for under £20, you can see all the medal-winners in The Drinks Business Global Chardonnay Masters by clicking here, while the judges for 2016’s competition can be seen below.
The judges: Front row (l-r): Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, Hugo Rose MW, Jonathan Pedley MW. Middle row (l-r): Patricia Stefanowicz MW, Lucy Shaw, Christine Parkinson, Patrick Schmitt MW. Back row (l-r): Alberto Segade, Miles Corish MW, Keith Isaac MW, Thomas Chevalier
Boschendal 1685 Chardonnay, Western Cape, South Africa, 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: Under £10
The taste: A great value Chardonnay from one of South Africa’s oldest wine estates, this wine exhibits ripe peachy flavours, with a touch of toast from contact with oak, and a fresh citrus zip, making this quite a full-bodied but balanced white.
Robertson Winery, Constitution Road Chardonnay, Robertson, South Africa, 2014
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: Under £10
The taste: First released in 2004, the Constitution Road Chardonnay was made by Robertson Winery to commemorate ten years of democracy in South Africa under the new constitution. Proving South Africa’s ability to produce good-value, ripe, balanced, barrel-aged Chardonnay, this wine has plenty of peachy fruit, lemony freshness, and attractive oak-derived flavours of vanilla and butterscotch.
De Bortoli Wines, Villages Chardonnay, Yarra Valley, Australia, 2014
The style: Unoaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £10-15
The taste: A lovely bright example of Chardonnay from Australia’s Yarra Valley, crafted by one of the country’s most respected white wine producers, this wine scored highly for its combination of smoky aromas, pineapple flavours, oily texture, and appealing chalky sensation on the finish, making it wonderfully dry and refreshing. In short, a New World Chardonnay for Chablis-lovers.
Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Columbia Crest H3 Chardonnay, Horse Heaven Hills, USA, 2014
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £10-15
The taste: Using Chardonnay grown in the Horse Heaven Hills – the evocatively-named viticultural area within America’s Washington State – this wine has an appealing combination of apple and pear flavours with vanilla notes from barrel-ageing. It’s not a hugely weighty white, but a gently creamy medium-bodied Chardonnay with plenty of character.
Barkan Wine Cellars, Special Reserve Chardonnay, Upper Galilee, Israel, 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £10-15
The taste: Proving that you don’t have to stick to the classic regions of the wine-world for great-tasting Chardonnay, this example from Israel has bags of peach and melon flavour coupled to a creamy vanilla character from barrel-ageing, along with a complexing salty tang on the finish. An exciting find for those who love full-bodied Chardonnay.
De Wetshof Estate, Lesca Chardonnay, Western Cape, South Africa 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £10-15
The taste: Hailing from long-time South African Chardonnay specialist De Wetshof, this example has a nutty character from extended contact with the wines lees, along with vanilla from barrel-ageing, and a combination of ripe melon and bright citrus fruit characters. A medium-weight Chardonnay with lots layers for the money.
Viña Errazuriz, Max Reserva Chardonnay, Aconcagua Costa, Chile, 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £10-15
The taste: Famous for producing crowd-pleasing wines of great quality for the price, it should be no surprise that Errazuriz delivers a lot of Chardonnay for under £15. Expect peachy fruit, a smoky toasty barrel-sourced character, and a slightly salty finish. A ripe but bright style of oak-aged white, and a benchmark New World Chardonnay.
Viña Concha y Toro, Gran Reserva Serie Riberas Chardonnay, Litueche, Colchagua, Chile, 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £10-15
The taste: Using fruit grown on the banks of the Rapel river just 15km before it reaches the Pacific Ocean, this Chardonnay from Chile’s largest wine producer displays ripe melon and peachy flavours with mouth-watering citrus notes. Such characters, when combined with creamy oak, ensure that this will certainly please the Chardonnay lover on a budget.
Bird in Hand, Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills, Australia 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15-£20
The taste: This entry-point Chardonnay from one of Australia’s most talented winemakers – Kym Milne MW – has crisp lemon and ripe pineapple fruit, along with flavours of smoke and toast due to barrel-ageing on its lees. It delivers plenty of interest for the price, it’s just slightly less weighty and persistent than this winery’s pricier expressions.
Jacob’s Creek, Reeves Point Chardonnay, Barossa, Australia 2014
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15-£20
The taste: Highlighting Australia’s expertise with Chardonnay, the Reeves Point from Jacob’s Creek has all the typical traits of the grape – lemon, melon fruit, fresh acidity – along with a lovely nutty edge from lees contact in oak barrels. Medium-weight, zippy but ripe style of Chardonnay that delivers a lot of wine for the price.
Garcés Silva Family Vineyards, Amayna Chardonnay, Leyda Valley, Chile, 2013
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15-£20
The taste: The relatively cool-climate of Chile’s Leyda Valley has laced this wine with a refreshing grapefruit tang, which, when combined with creamy oak, and a note of ripe melon, makes for a characterful and balanced medium-weight Chardonnay.
Wakefield/Taylors Wines, Jaraman Chardonnay, Clare Valley, Australia 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15-£20
The taste: A gently toasty nutty style of Chardonnay that delivers lots of peachy fruit, before finishing with a refreshing lemony bite, making this a complex, medium-bodied white with a lovely balance.
De Grendel Wines, OP Die Berg Chardonnay, Ceres Plateau, South Africa, 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15 -£20
The taste: Hailing from the relatively-cool high-altitude area called the Ceres Plateau, this Chardonnay has fresh grapefruit aromas, although the wine delivers plenty of palate-weight, with creamy oak, and an oily texture. A full-flavoured wine balanced by refreshing fruit.
Bouchard Finlayson, Missionvale, Walker Bay, South Africa, 2014
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15-£20
The taste: Bouchard Finlayson, as one of South Africa’s most respected producers of Burgundy-style whites and reds, has crafted a great example of relatively affordable Chardonnay in a restrained style: expect peach flavours but also a firm apple-like bite, combined with a background toastiness from barrel-ageing. A first-rate Chardonnay at an attractive price.
Nepenthe, Ithaca Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills, Australia, 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15-£20
The taste: Using fruit from Australia’s celebrated Chardonnay-producing region of Adelaide Hills, Nepenthe’s Ithica has layers of fruit, ranging from pineapple and peach to grapefruit and lime, paired with a gently smoky, toastiness from ageing in barrels. A medium-weight, persistent and refreshing style of Chardonnay.
Landmark Vineyards, Overlook Chardonnay, Sonoma County, USA, 2013
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15-£20
The taste: With flavours of nectarine, vanilla and honey, this has all the hallmarks of well-made Californian Chardonnay. Layered ripe fruit flavours, an oily texture, and a bright finish make this a powerful style of white, but also a balanced lip-smacking Chardonnay.
Planeta, Chardonnay, Menfi DOC, Sicily, Italy, 2015
The style: Oaked white wine
The medal: Gold
The price: £15-£20
The taste: Although Sicily may not be famous for this noble grape, Planeta is famous for its Chardonnay. Having planted the variety on the Italian island as long ago as 1985, Planeta has over 30 years experience working with Chardonnay, and crafts a full-bodied style of wine with the grape, combining peach and pineapple fruit with vanilla and marzipan flavours from barrel-ageing. A powerful and delicious classic style of Chardonnay from place few would associate with the grape.