Chardonnay’s popularity explained in 5 wines

Chardonnay is the most popular wine in America. It’s 20 percent of all the wine we buy in shops and supermarkets, according to a Nielsen survey.

It’s that popular because it can be all things to all people, from lean and crisp, scented with green apples and minerals; to lush, buttery, oaky wines that taste like tropical fruit.

Why do different chardonnays taste so different from each other? There are many reasons, which, taken together, demonstrate the fuss and bother to which grape growers and winemakers go in making their wines.

For starters, chardonnay is a rather neutral grape, a malleable wine, a blank slate on which growers and winemakers can demonstrate their genius or lack thereof.

Here are examples of chardonnay’s varied styles and some hints on how they are achieved.

2013 Ponzi Wines Reserve Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Ore.: tropical fruit aromas, lush and fruity, with flavors of oranges, bananas and caramel, opulent, full-bodied, long finish; $35.

Ponzi ferments its chard in French oak barrels, uses a secondary “malolactic” fermentation that turns the wine’s sharp malic acids to softer lactic acids similar to those in milk, also stirring the “lees” of grape skins in the bottom of the bottle, all seeking that opulence.

2014 Wente Vineyards Eric’s “Small Lot” Chardonnay, Livermore Valley, Calif.: lean, lively and crisp, with aromas and flavors of lemons and green apples; $28.

Wente’s chardonnay is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, with no oak barrel aging, seeking that crispness.

2014 Alamos Chardonnay, Mendoza, Argentina: lush yet crisp, with aromas and flavors of mangos, ripe pears and spice; $13.

Alamos’ Chard is grown 5,000 feet up the Andes Mountains, where intense sun ripens the grapes and hot days and chilly nights preserve its crisp acids.

2015 “Tall Sage” Chardonnay, by Goose Ridge Vineyard, Columbia Valley, Wash. (92 percent chardonnay, 5 percent roussanne, 2 percent sauvignon blanc, 1 percent viognier): floral, spicy aromas, complex flavors of ripe pears, apricots and mangos; $10.

This chard shows how greatly flavors can be enriched adding even small amounts of other grapes.

2014 Joseph Drouhin Macon-Villages, France (100 percent chardonnay): floral aromas, flavors of wet stones, vanilla and ripe peaches, crisp and lean; $14.

Macon-Villages, in the France’s Burgundy region, has chalky soil that imparts the wet stone flavor.

2014 Kendall-Jackson “Vintner’s Reserve” Chardonnay, Calif.: aromas of vanilla, flavors of pineapples and other tropical fruits plus lemons and limes, rich and hearty; $17.

KJ seeks complex flavors by sourcing grapes from Monterey, Santa Barbara, Mendocino and Sonoma counties.