Torrontes grapes growing in the Argentinian sunshine

Goodbye Chardonnay, or is it merely au-revoir?

Once much-loved, Chardonnay has now seemingly fallen out of favour with wine-drinkers

ONLY a few years ago white wine lovers drank Chardonnay. Wine shelves were packed with the stuff. Almost every country that wanted to export produced a range of what the experts described as rich oaky single varietal Chardonnay wine.
Now the Sultana of the shelves has been dethroned and is forced to compete with an ever growing band of upstart wines. Worse still, her bottles are being invaded by downmarket peasant grape varieties; such is the case with the Argentinean made Inti Chardonnay/Torrontes.
According to an ancient Inca myth Inti was the Sun god and the ancestor of the Incas, and its makers have, they say, captured the essence of the Sun and put it in a bottle. Sainsbury’s are passing it on to us at £2.99 (reduced from £5.99).
Here Chardonnay is blended with Torrontes a local and until now unheard of Argentinian grape. Torrantes is described as containing a tumultuous outpouring of tropical fruit, candied peaches, lychees, rose petals and other floral hints.
It rushes into the mouth, they say, with an extra zing of spice and acidity. Wine drinkers may be searching for new wines – especially white – but it’s unlikely they will find many bottles of a single varietal Torrontes wine in the UK.
Torontes is the most widely grown grape in Argentina and makes genuine Argentinian wine whose individuality can seep through even when seriously diluted by oceans of formulistic Chardonnay. But it, and other local vines, are being dug up and replaced by the usual International varieties such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Perversely, growers and wineries in countries where these grapes have grown for generations are closing down due to lack of demand. This process is taking place throughout the wine making world, local traditional wines are being ignored and consigned to history.
Tesco’s may claim to offer 750 wines but most of these are made from a tiny percentage of the available grape varieties and are produced by an ever decreasing number of companies. Products such as the above mentioned Inti Chardonnay/Torrontes are an attempt to respond to some of these criticisms and although not the full answer, they do give some kind of local colour to what would be a bland formula wine.
We know Chardonnay is losing its appeal, even so at a recent tasting organised for the mayor of Islington’s International Islington initiative (Islington Tribune February 27), we were surprised to find the participants reluctant to choose a McLaren Vale Chardonnay even though it was their favourite among the wines being tasted. Sophisticated and intelligent wine drinkers don’t like to admit to drinking this stuff any more. Chardonnay it seems is the new Liebfraumilch.
The new trendy kid on the shelf is supposedly Sauvignon Blanc wines and are strongly backed by the nation’s wine writers, but facing stiff competition from Pinot Grigio. For those who like outsiders, watch those Germans – their wines are on the up. This is no blitzkrieg just a gentle creeping back onto the shelves after years in the wine making wilderness.

• In an article in The Times on January 14, the paper’s wine columnist Jane MacQuitty brushes aside criticisms of supermarkets made in the New Journal before Christmas (Supermarket wine rules OK!).
In our article we were trying to draw attention to the use of language in lifestyle supplements and weekend reviews, and demonstrate that this type of description does not provide an adequate basis on which to choose a wine.
We argued this reinforces an existing pre-occupation with New World wines from a narrow range of large producers, thereby restricting the choice offered on supermarket shelves.
Wine writers play a crucial role informing and advising us what to buy. This is a debate that can’t be dismissed so easily.