All the medallists from the Global Chardonnay Masters 2024

This year’s Global Chardonnay Masters was a reminder of this chameleon-like grape’s calling cards: reliability and value for money. Patrick Schmitt MW reports.

It’s probably the reason why it became so popular in the first place, and this year ’s competition proved it. I’m referring to Chardonnay’s ability to deliver a reliably good glass of wine at a relatively affordable price, as well as this (in)famous grape’s potential to yield something great without charging the Earth.

If you look at the results in the following tables, you can see what I mean, with a raft of Silver medals awarded to Chardonnays under £10, and a strong mix of Golds and Silvers given out to those in the ‘oaked’ category between £10 and £15 – proof that this grape’s appealing textural mix of richness and freshness is a delicious combination, and not especially hard to achieve for the experienced winemaker – while also perfectly possible to nail at scale.

As for the finer end of the quality spectrum, where Chardonnay delivers layers of wonderful flavours – buttered toast, white-fleshed peach, zesty ruby grapefruit, cashew nuts and freshly-struck matchstick – it seems a sweet spot for quality and price is £30–£50, highlighted by this year ’s results: as many as four Masters were lavished on wines in this price band.

So what did we like? In the words of fellow judge and chair Jonathan Pedley MW, such top expressions “were characterised by the glorious complexity that Chardonnay is capable of”. For him, this means “ripe fruit, well-handled oak, lees, a touch of butteriness – combined with mid-palate texture and length on the finish”. He asked: “What is there to beat it?” before observing “mercifully” that this year ’s competition “did not see many of the exaggerated versions of Chardonnay that have come into and out of fashion in recent decades: ‘skeletal struck match’, ‘clotted cream lactic’ and ‘4×2 sawmill’.”

And where did we find the best Chardonnays? There was a broad and thrilling spread of origins, taking in some surprises, such as Turkey and Greece, along with Austria, Argentina, Romania, Spain and Italy, but also, more predictably, South Africa, New Zealand, California, Australia, Chile and France.

Among the exciting discoveries was a seriously good Chardonnay from Chapadmalal – on Argentina’s southern coast, where Trapiche has planted vines with seemingly great results – and an extraordinary, if very pricey, multi-vintage Chardonnay from Navarra, made by Arínzano, called Eternidad.

Finally, as is so often said, the benchmark for this grape is Burgundy, and that proved true in this year ’s tasting – with a premier cru from Montagny proving one of our top performers, using Chardonnay from vines planted almost 100 years ago. However, when it came to bang for your buck, that award went to Tapanappa, which uses the oldest Chardonnay plantings in Adelaide Hills to yield a wine of great flavour concentration and palate-cleansing freshness – for sub-£40. In short, it’s an outstanding, age-worthy white for the price of a brut NV Champagne. I’ll raise a glass to that.

Unoaked 100% Chardonnay

Sparkling 100% Chardonnay

Oaked 100% Chardonnay

Oaked 100% Chardonnay (continued)

Unoaked Chardonnay – Blend

Oaked Chardonnay – Blend