August 26, 2002

Patience Part of the Chardonnay Blend
by Dan Berger - On Wine

It was a coincidence of sorts, and yet it was all quite natural, when you give it some thought.

One warm evening nearly three weeks ago, some people got together in one of the most idyllic spots on the planet to taste some old chardonnay. It was no ordinary event, as it was a quiet, reserved party staged by quiet, reserved people for a winery that was celebrating 50 years of operation.

Few Americans have heard of this property, though people in the industry know it to be the first winery built in the Napa Valley following the repeal of Prohibition.

Stony Hill Winery was founded by the late couple Fred and Eleanor McCrea on a rock-strewn hillside with so little topsoil that tractors frequently break down trying to till it. Against advice of the experts, Fred, a San Francisco advertising executive, chose to make chardonnay. And the party staged the other evening on the terrace of the McCrea home was, in part, a look back to some earlier wines.

Then the following day, Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, a Croatian expatriate, even more quietly celebrated his 25th year of operation at his own Grgich Hills Cellars. Grgich, who gained fame in 1976 when one of his wines, a chardonnay he made at Chateau Montelena, won a famous wine tasting in Paris against far more expensive wines, poured some of his older wines.

The Grgich event was small, for just a handful of people, because Mike, now 79, though he remains an active winemaker, isn't into wild celebratory events.

What was interesting about both of these parties was the fact that Stony Hill, now operated by the McCreas' son, Peter, and his wife, Willinda, and Grgich continue to make their chardonnays in an older, out-of-fashion style. Both Peter McCrea and Grgich spoke eloquently and accurately about how well their chardonnays age. And in this day of instant consumption, when chardonnay simply doesn't age beyond a year or two, this was quite a coincidence. Or was it?

Americans love chardonnay. It is the single most popular wine consumed here, and one reason for this is the fact that it can be a rich, complex, deeply flavored white wine. But in the past, that style of wine could only be achieved through patience, by aging the lean, delicate wine in a cellar until it took on the patina of age.

Today, most Americans do not have the patience to wait, and yet they still want their chardonnay to be big, rich and boldly flavored.

So most winemakers today resort to a procedure after the primary fermentation that softens the wine a lot earlier and easier than aging it. The process is called a malolactic fermentation (ML for short), and it converts the stronger malic acid in wine to the softer lactic acid, thus creating what some people call a buttery taste and aroma.

Stony Hill and Grgich are two of only a tiny number of old-world adherents who remain staunchly opposed to this process and who continue to make a crisp, lean, more delicate style of wine and then hope that consumers who desire more richness will hold the wines until they develop in the bottle.

Mike Chelini, winemaker for Stony Hill, wasn't at all surprised at the 50th anniversary party that his 1973 and 1978 chardonnays, the two oldest that were served, were still vibrantly youthful and tasty, not in the least oxidized.

"Try to hold one of today's chardonnays just three years," said one of my tablemates, "and you'd be looking to bury it."

And Grgich himself, his eyes twinkling under his ever-present beret, said, "I have never done malolactic with my chardonnay. I like the fruit the way it is in the grapes, and malolactic destroys something."

Fortunately, as Grgich spends less time in the winery, his winemaker, his nephew Ivo Jeramaz, also believes the same style of wine is best. "Our wine goes best with food," says Ivo, implying that the full-ML style does not.

There are just a handful of other non-ML wineries still making chardonnay, among them such famous Napa Valley names as Freemark Abbey, Mayacamas and Far Niente. Trefethen and Gundlach-Bundschu, among others, continue to make a very low-ML Chardonnay, and a number of wineries are cutting back on the procedure because they see the tide turning back to the earlier style.

And the key to these wines: patience.

WINE OF THE WEEK: 2001 Dry Creek Chenin Blanc, Clarksburg ($8.75) -- Melony aroma with a hint of pear and a soft yet still crisp finish. A fine example of a classic and a perfect picnic wine.

Dan Berger resides in Sonoma County, Calif. Berger publishes a weekly newsletter on wine and can be reached at danberger@VintageExperiences.com.