A style of chardonnay that’s bone-dry and tart

Chablis is a French white wine made with 100% chardonnay grapes, but its flavor profile is nothing like the chardonnay American wine drinkers are accustomed to. Where most Chardonnays are fuller-bodied and richer in texture than other whites, Chablis is lightweight and sheer on the palate. Where the majority of Chardonnays feature some overt apple-pear fruitiness and the distinctive pumpkin spice flavors of new oak, almost all Chablis wines are bone-dry, unoaked, and a little anemic in the fruit department. Most importantly, where most Chardonnays are on the softer end of the white wine acidity scale, Chablis is famously tart — so much so that it can taste unpleasant alone, needing to be partnered with salty foods in order to taste balanced.

All of these qualities give Chablis an austerity whose appeal is a challenge to describe in positive terms, as with the ferocious bitterness of Campari or the beach-fire funk of an Islay single-malt scotch. Like these other drinks, Chablis tends to be an acquired taste that rarely appeals to the wine novice, but nonetheless retains its prestige from generation to generation as new converts discover its charms.

What makes Chablis so distinctive is that it is grown in considerably colder conditions than is normal for the chardonnay grape — in a zone of northern France whose climate is a closer match to that of Nova Scotia than it is to California’s. Low ripeness in the fruit grown in Chablis amplifies acidity and minerality, while suppressing fruitiness and alcohol. While most Chablis is quite pricey, petit Chablis — or small Chablis — is the name used there for modest, entry-level wines like this one. It may not have the complexity or the long finish of a superior Chablis, but makes a solid introduction to this style that is a chardonnay for chardonnay haters. Brisk, cleansing, and as dry as the desert, with flavors of crabapples and goat cheese, it makes a marvelous match for any food you might squeeze some lemon on.

Burgundy, France; 12.5% ABV

PLCB Item #100048775 - on sale for $17.99 through March 1 (regularly $19.99)

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