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You no longer need to feel embarrassed about loving Chardonnay

One of the happier wine trends from the last couple of years (besides everyone overcoming their phobia of Pink wines) is the resurgence of Chardonnay.

wineOne of the happier wine trends from the last couple of years (besides everyone overcoming their phobia of Pink wines) is the resurgence of Chardonnay.

5 years ago, convincing most people to drink a Chard solicited the same body language as asking them to take a step onto a rickety foot-bridge high over Crocodiles-With-Rabies Canyon, but today the grape has found its way back onto the tables of wine lovers everywhere.

The Anything-But-Chardonnay crowd is still out there, but they are increasingly marginalized, sitting alone in a corner at the party, angrily sipping cheap Pinot Grigio from Winnipeg and complaining to a potted plant because the plant has no legs and cannot escape. Chardonnay is back, baby.

The Path Chardonnay, Lodi, California. Round, in town, and ready to get down. Creedence Clearwater Revival didn’t want to get stuck in Lodi, but I do. It gets hella hot during the day, but the afternoon winds known as the “delta breezes” cool everything off enough to make a Chardonnay that can be ripe and large without turning into something you’d spread on toast. Melon and caramel notes over brioche and lemony vanilla. One of those wines that’ll make salmon tap dance. $21.99

Luca G Lot Chardonnay 2015, Argentina. Bold, gold, and ready to get old. If it didn’t grow all those green grape vines, Tupungato, a sub region of the Uco valley in Mendoza province, would look like the setting for a Mad Max movie. Sitting at a thin 5000ft elevation near the Tupungato volcano, the Luca vineyards produce a Chardonnay with one foot in the Old World and one foot in the New. The rough, rocky soils (it’s actually surprising that life can grow here) bring a bracing minerality to this thick brew of peach and ripe pear over lemon Jell-O powder. Intense, powerful, and primed to cellar for at least a decade if you can let it. 93 points James Suckling, $47.99

Written by Jordan Carrier, Vintage Room Consultant at Everything Wine – River District.