Blog
Blog
While Steel Chardonnay is the signature wine of Chatham Vineyards, its cousin, the Oak Chardonnay, has earned its own devoted following.
These are completely different wines with distinct profiles.
The Steel Chard is the wine Chatham vintner Jon Wehner does the least to and its taste is reflective of the minerality in the terroir on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Its site-expressive simplicity makes it the wine of choice for pairing with fresh oysters.
Chatham’s Oak Chard is more complex, though Jon isn’t heavy-handed with any of Chatham’s wines — all vineyard-driven highlighting the fruit that grows in this unique location. With more flavor and body, the Oak Chardonnay is the better choice to pair with heavier foods, including salmon, lobster, clams, cheese or any entrée with a cream sauce.
“This year the Oak is going to be a little bit different,” says Jon, who is finishing up bottling the 2022 vintage. “It has this really pronounced lemon zest and sort of vanilla cream. It has a high acidity that integrates well with the French oak in the barrels. It’s really balanced and a great food wine.”
The Oak Chard begins fermenting in steel but once fermentation is firmly established, it’s moved to barrel where it bubbles, gases and foams at its own pace, the grape juice extracting the oak flavor from the barrel.
“Each barrel is its own fermentation vessel,” Jon says, subtleties that are passed on to the final blend.
A third of the 2022 vintage is fermenting in newer oak barrels that yield hints of several spices, including cloves. The French oak barrels come lightly toasted, a process referred to as blonding, which softens the tannins to let the fruit shine.
Chatham’s Chardonnay dates back to 2004, and it was Jon’s mother, Joan, who suggested after a barrel tasting that rather than one Chardonnay, Chatham make two, noting, “These are two completely different wines.”
They smell and look different, too. The Steel has a green hue. The more golden hue in the Oak comes from the toasting of the barrel. “It’s great to have them on a tasting flight together because people can taste them side by side and then they really notice the difference,” Jon says.
A release date hasn’t been announced yet for the 2022 Oak Chardonnay but expect it by mid to late July.