Tasting: South American Chardonnay
The wine-producing countries of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay are making some seriously exciting wines, so we asked regional expert Amanda Barnes to blind taste a line-up of premium Chardonnays. Quality is higher than ever, she says, with balanced wines in
73 wines tasted and rated by Amanda Barnes
Only in the last decade has South American Chardonnay become something to get excited about. But, as this tasting reaffirmed, it really is worth getting excited about – especially at the premium end, with complex and engaging wines coming from the coast, desert, mountains and even the wind-beaten steppes of Patagonia (see ‘Travel’, Decanter April issue).
This impressive surge in quality is ultimately down to the intellectual journey that South America’s winemakers have been on: from their fastidious research into the multitude of soil types and microclimates (even within the same vineyard) to a much more mature approach to winemaking and an increasingly deft hand when it comes to oak ageing. My standout Chardonnay producers in this tasting all used oak (barrels and foudres) to frame their wines, but none of the wines were overshadowed by oak as they may have been a decade ago. Instead, most of the top wines shone for their fruit purity and elegance.
Chilean choice
Chile has the lion’s share of plantings with more than 11,200ha – almost double Argentina’s 6,000ha – and Chile is really South America’s Chardonnay heartland, with plantings spanning its kaleidoscope of wine regions. Although Chile is often accused of playing it a bit safe with its entry- and mid-range wines, when it comes to the premium end Chile has a buffet of exciting wines and styles to choose from. From the cloudy, unfiltered natural wine of Tara in the Atacama desert to the intriguing Goutte d’Argent made with sake yeast, and the brash style of Matetic’s wild-ferment EQ Quartz from San Antonio, there was nothing pedestrian about this tasting.
As always, Chile’s cool coastal regions really lead in quality for white wines. Limarí is the standout region for
excellent coastal Chardonnay, with two of my top wines in the tasting, Tabalí’s Talinay and Amelia’s Quebrada Seca, overdelivering in both price and quality with aromatic precision, chalky mentality and chiselled acidity. Leyda Valley isn’t far behind in top quality either, with Viña Leyda’s Lot 5 standing out for complexity and value; but there were vibrant coastal wines from Casablanca, Colchagua and Curicó, too.
Southern promise
From Itata southwards, southern Chile is, in my view, an emerging star for Chardonnay, as the top-scoring wines there (including a cool debut vintage from Francisco Baettig’s private label) aptly demonstrated. There’s similar potential in Argentine Patagonia, in Chubut, where Otronia is making waves with its vibrant, cool-climate wines. I would like to have seen more wines from both southern Chile (namely Malleco and Osorno) and southern Argentina (Río Negro and Chubut) in this tasting, as they are hotspots for thrilling cool-climate Chardonnay and regions to keep your eye on. No doubt there’s a big future for Chardonnay in the south of both countries, but the wines remain niche for now.
Seriously Argentina
By and large, the mecca for premium Argentinian Chardonnay is the Uco Valley, where Catena Zapata’s White Stones stole the show in this tasting, followed hot on its heels by Viña Cobos’ Bramare single-vineyard Los Arbolitos. These are ageworthy wines which deserve some cellaring, but the Uco Valley, and especially Gualtallary, is also producing exciting mountain wines at affordable weekday price points that deliver great value and style, with bony minerality and delicately floral, peachy expressions.
Uruguay is also upping its Chardonnay game, and although there are barely 100ha planted, there’s an interesting range of expressions, from the creamy, mouthfilling yet energetic style of Familia Deicas in Garzón to the tangy, Chablis-esque style of Cerro del Toro in Piriapolis.
As one of the great ‘terroir translator’ varieties, Chardonnay in South America is now declaring loud and clear that this diverse continent is ready to demand some well-earned respect for its top-end Chardonnay.
Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their most recent release 100% Chardonnay wines produced in any region in South America
‘Most of the top wines shone for their fruit purity and elegance’
Amanda Barnes is an award-winning journalist who has been based in South America since 2009. She corresponds for Decanter and is author of the South America Wine Guide – a book on the wines of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Peru