Chardonnay’s second coming

Buttery is out and subtlety is in.

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11th April, 2013

Chardonnay sales are climbing fast, winemakers report. The country’s most popular white-wine variety 20 years ago lost market share to sauvignon blanc and pinot gris but is swinging back into fashion. It had to happen. Greystone, a Waipara producer acclaimed for aromatic whites – riesling, pinot gris and gewürztraminer – recently described chardonnay as “the finest white wine variety”. At Felton Road, Blair Walter fashions some of Central Otago’s greatest rieslings. “They are recognised widely,” he says in Joelle Thomson’s recent book The Wild Bunch, “but in the long ...

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