Just picked up a bottle of Beringer’s (sp?) Chardonnay for the white wine drinkers. Is this an OK brand? Please tell me people won’t scoff at my choice. No, tell me the truth. There is still time to run for another bottle.
"The famous white wine Chardonnay is made from the chardonnay grapes"
???
Of course chardonnay is made from chardonnay. You mean the famous white Burgundies?
Beringer is an "older" producer in Napa and they make a wide range of wines, some of them costing well over $100. Their Founders series is basically an entry-level. It's made from sourced grapes, it's drinkable, and it's not particularly outstanding but your guests won't go blind or anything. It is one of many widely available, drinkable wines on the market. Not particularly special but certainly not horrid. I hope you liked it.
Chardonnay is blessed by having one fo the most beautiful names of any grape and it became popular largely because of Kendall Jackson - in California it can get extremely ripe and KJ made theirs with a lot of oak and a little residual sugar, giving it a very slightly sweet note. It eventually became America's number one white grape.
But you can find many other styles and in California, many people are reacting against that style as well, making them with no oak, with very controlled fermentation, etc. The result is a crisper wine that is more reminiscent of green apple and similar to some of the white Burgundies.
Chardonnay grape is found "in Europe and the rest of the world" not because it is "unique for myriad flavors and styles" but because the grape grows well in California and produces a lot of juice. Wendy are you promoting a site or just making conversation? Linda C
I would avoid Beringer wines for the near future. They are having so serious quality control issues with that variety, and possibly other varieties as well.
