Chardonnay is originally from France’s Burgundy region, where the best white Burgundies are powerful and rich, with complex fruit flavours and notes of earth and minerals.

Chardonnays from warmer areas like America, Australia and Chile tend to be ripe and full-bodied, even buttery, with higher alcohol levels and vanilla notes from oak aging. Recently, however, more and more wine regions have been experimenting with fruity, fresh Chardonnays produced with very little or even no oak aging.

For most wine drinkers the greatest white in the world is still made from the Chardonnay grape and comes from Burgundy in central France, especially from the heart of the region, the Cote d’Or (the Golden Coast).

There’s a clear purity to great Chardonnay. When good, they have extraordinary richness, depth and complexity, always balanced by lively acidity, which brings essential freshness. When combined with the lemon/lime flavour and great minerality, it is hard to beat.