These days I drink mostly Chardonnay and Italian whites. I’m happy to admit to this guilty pleasure and don’t mind outing all you Puligny, Chassagne, Macon or St Aubin fans as being chardonnay lovers too!
To me, the most dramatic change in wine has occurred over the past 10 years as Australian chardonnay has metamorphed from wine pariah to white Burgundy in waiting. It’s the Strictly Come Dancing of grape varieties, one minute it’s a total no-no, the next minute it’s a national treasure.
The top end Chardonnay producers could easily have thrown in the towel, but take Mac Forbes, Giant Steps and Kooyong who have established themselves instead as the flagships for the new sleek, cool, mineral style in Australia and have inspired a raft of Victorian cool climate boutiques to follow them. Why? Because they understood what went wrong, they drink top Burgundy themselves and were intent on making a new style for the next generation of restaurant-goers in Melbourne.
Australian cuisine is rich in seafood and the fresh clean Asian style of cooking it needs its Chardonnay not to overpower it. Instead it acts as a foil or in many ways, like Italian whites are made to act more like a condiment. There really isn’t anything better to go with a plate of simply cooked prawns or Balmain Bugs than a crisp lean yet full Chardonnay.
Canny British wine buyers have already begun to see the value in the £15 - £25 Australian Chardonnays compared with £30-£60 fir similar quality, small production white Burgundy.
So if you still have the Chardonnay Cringe and you’re not convinced by Riesling’s charms, what do you drink after Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio, whose very ubiquity could well consign it to the Anything But...camp very soon? Well, I’m here to fly the flag for Italian white wines too - Italy is perfectly positioned to offer even the most jaded of palates a plethora of well made, food friendly, hand- crafted white wines.
The next time you’re in the kitchen doing anything remotely to do with tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil. Spaghetti Vongole or Crab Linguine or your classiest roasted wild Seabass ? - think Greco di Tufo or Fiano d’Avellino. Doing a Risotto? How about Lugana, Soave or Verdicchio to sip while you stir.
Something for Jamie’s spicy pumpkin soup? How about , Grillo, Inzolia , Trebbiano or Verdicchio - Italy really has the alphabet covered - so you’ll never get bored.
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