This is Part 1 of a series of posts on Unoaked Chardonnay.  (Part 2 — the Toad Hollow 2007 Mendocino County — is here)

Unoaked is the way the cool kids are drinking Chardonnay these days.  I decided I’d pick up two widely available bottles this week and compare and contrast them. The first one I opened was the Clos LaChance Unoaked Chardonnay 2007 Monterey County.

Actually, the full name of this wine is: Clos LaChance Glittering-Throated Emerald Unoaked Chardonnay 2007 Monterey County (that’s quite a mouthful!). The folks at Clos LaChance have a thing for the hummingbird “due to its territorial nature and ability to chase away the grape-eating birds from the vineyards.” So they have a series of wines called The Hummingbird Series each named after a type of hummingbird they think reflects the wine in some way. I kinda like this idea except that you end up with some pretty awkward wine names: Clos LaChance White-Tufted Sunbeam Sauvignon Blanc, Clos LaChance Pink-Throated Brilliant Rosé, Clos LaChance Crimson Topaz Meritage.

Back to the wine…

Producer: Clos LaChance

Grapes: 100% Chardonnay

Appellation: Monterey County (AVA, California) (map)

Vineyards: 50% from the Riverview Vineyard near Soledad in the cooler northern half of the Salinas Valley. 50% from the San Lucas Vineyard (in the San Lucas AVA sub-appellation) in the warmer southern end of the valley. These are not estate vineyards, they are owned by Scheid Vineyards.

Winemaking: Stainless fermentation, no malolactic fermentation (MLF) and no oak aging.

Alcohol: 13.5%

Price: Around $10

My tasting notes: Color is a bit less golden than most (oaked) chards, more like a pilsner. On the nose, I note pineapple and pear and a spiciness I would normally associate with oak. Hmm… has my brain permanently linked chardonnay with oak to the point that I can’t disassociate the two? In the mouth, I get more spiced apple/pear and pineapple and a prickly/raw mouthfeel that (again) I would normally attribute to oak treatment. It certainly doesn’t have the buttery quality of oaky/MLF chards, though. Still, I’m starting to question my assumptions about what oak does and doesn’t contribute to a wine. I will need to compare to the other unoaked chard I picked up and see if I’m just imagining things.

Overall assessment: When I think unoaked Chardonnay, I expect crisp apples. I got apples, but not enough crispness for my palate. If you’re not going to give me crispness, seduce me with richness — but to be fair, that’s not the goal of this unoaked Chard either. Ultimately, I’d say this is a serviceable white. Certainly not a bad wine, but not something I’d seek out, and (unless my palate was just playing tricks on me) not a great representation of unoaked Chardonnay. C

Free association: Not what I expected…

So what do you think? Have you ever had this experience with an unoaked Chardonnay? Are spice notes a common characteristic of Chardonnay sans oak? Am I crazy? Leave a comment and let me know.

More info:

The winery’s tech sheet.

And here is the winery’s collection of reviews/notes.

This bottle was named Wine of the Week by Paul Lukacs in The Washington Times back in April.

A collection of tasting notes from CellarTracker