Chardonnay

 Pronounced – shar-don-ay

Chardonnay is of French origin and is the principle white wine of Burgundy. In the Champagne area it is 100% of wines labelled blanc de blanc. Chardonnay is viticulturally and oenologically versatile and is grown with success in most viticultural areas under a variety of climatic conditions and can be made sparkling or still, with wood ageing or without, and is sometimes blended with Semillon in Australia. Chardonnay was the most sought after white grape through the late 1980’s and 1990’s.

It is this very vigorous and exciting rise to fame that I believe led to the often heavy over oaking of Chardonnay. Rising fame lead to rising price for this grape and this heralded the era of investment vineyards and vines were forced to produce fruit often within a year of planting to satisfy the investor. Without good root development grape vines produce fruit that often lacks intensity and good varietal character and it was this fruit that produced Chardonnay wines lacking in character and complexity. To overcome this the winemakers started to oak the wines. This was done in a variety of ways such as barrel fermentation, barrel storage, addition of oak chips or oak pieces. Wine were often over oaked and in many ways oak became anonymously synonymous with the publics perception of the character of Chardonnay.

Today Chardonnays are rarely oaked and the true varietal character of Chardonnay is able to be enjoyed. I do not wish to sound overly critical of the use of oak with white wines and in particular Chardonnay but the general public prefer unwooded whites that display plentiful fruit character regardless of what I personally enjoy.

For suggestions on how to enjoy your next bottle of Carool Chardonnay try our

food and wine matching section.

Light straw through to golden depending on style. Drink now fruit driven styles will be light in colour. Barrel fermented and aged wines will be deeper in colour to golden. Sparkling Chardonnay will often be clear to straw

 Melon, peach, fig, buttery, butterscotch, honey, nutty, pineapple, toasty, mango, apricot, apple, grapefruit, tropical fruit, herbaceous.

 This versatile variety will produce wines from medium to full bodied. Drink now styles will display peach, apricot, melon, fig, honey, lemon and limes. Barrel fermented wines will have a further dimension added of vanilla, toast, lanolin, coconut, caramel, smoky, caramel, cheesy, yeast, bread, vegemite, buttery and butterscotch

The first Carool Shiraz will be released shortly and this will be the first Shiraz grown and produced on the Coast. This wine will surprise and delight as it is a full bodied, generous varietal wine.

 REGIONAL STYLE DESCRIPTORS 

Barossa Valley	Coonawarra	Clare Valley	Adelaide Hills
·        peach ·        toasty ·        butter ·        melon	·        melon ·        peach ·        fig lemon ·        apricot	·        lemon/lime ·        peach	·        fig ·        honey ·        melon ·        peach
McLaren Vale	Mornington	King Valley	Southern W.A.
·        melon ·        honey butter ·        lime peach ·        lemons	·        toast ·        honey-suckle ·        smoke ·        spice	·        buttery ·        melon ·        pineapple	·        lemon ·        peach ·        fig ·        passion fruit
Hunter Valley	Yarra Valley	Tasmania	New Zealand
·        peach ·        grapefruit ·        buttery ·        melon	·        peach fig ·        grapefruit ·        cashew ·        pineapple	·        apricot ·        peach melon fig ·        fruit salad	·        melon ·        peach ·        fig

Taste award winning local wines today at ILNAM Estate

ILNAM Estate is a unique tourist attraction as we are the only winery on the Tweed. ILNAM Estate Winery is located just 20 minutes from the Gold Coast Airport, 40 minutes from Surfers Paradise and only 1 hour 20 minutes from Brisbane.

ILNAM ESTATE WINERY- 750 Carool Road, Carool NSW- Ph (07) 5590 7703

email  info@ilnam.com.au