Editing Chardonnay (section)

==North America==
In North America, particularly [[California wine|California]], Chardonnay found another region where it could thrive and produce a style of wine noticeably different from that of France. It is the dominant white wine variety of the area, overtaking [[Riesling]] in 1990. In the [[American wine|United States]], it is found most notably in California, [[Oregon wine|Oregon]], [[Texas wine|Texas]], [[Virginia wine|Virginia]], and [[Washington wine|Washington]],<ref name="Oxford pg 154-156"/> but also in [[Alabama wine|Alabama]], [[Arizona wine|Arizona]], [[Arkansas wine|Arkansas]], [[Colorado wine|Colorado]], [[Connecticut wine|Connecticut]], [[Georgia wine|Georgia]], [[Idaho wine|Idaho]], [[Illinois wine|Illinois]], [[Indiana wine|Indiana]], [[Iowa wine|Iowa]], [[Maryland wine|Maryland]], [[Massachusetts wine|Massachusetts]], [[Michigan wine|Michigan]], [[Minnesota wine|Minnesota]], [[Missouri wine|Missouri]], [[New Hampshire wine|New Hampshire]], [[New Jersey wine|New Jersey]], [[New Mexico wine|New Mexico]], [[New York wine|New York]], [[North Carolina wine|North Carolina]], [[Ohio wine|Ohio]], [[Oklahoma wine|Oklahoma]], [[South Carolina wine|South Carolina]], [[Tennessee wine|Tennessee]], and [[Vermont wine]]. In [[Canadian wine|Canada]], Chardonnay is found in [[British Columbia]], [[Nova Scotia]], [[Ontario wine|Ontario]], and [[Quebec]].,<ref name="appellation">Appellation America [http://wine.appellationamerica.com/grape-varietal/Chardonnay.html Chardonnay] Accessed: January 10, 2008.</ref> and in Mexico is found in Baja California(Valle de Guadalupe) and in Coahuila(Valle de Parras) states.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

===California===
[[File:Barrel fermented California Chard.jpg|right|thumb|A California Chardonnay that has been barrel-fermented.]]
The first successful commercial production of California Chardonnay was from plantings in the [[Livermore Valley AVA]]. [[Wente Vineyards]] developed a Chardonnay clone that was used to introduce the grape variety in several Californian vineyards throughout the 1940s. In the 1950s, [[James David Zellerbach]], one-time [[United States Ambassador to Italy#Heads of the U.S. Embassy at Rome (1945–present)|US Ambassador]] to Italy in Rome, started [[Hanzell Vineyards]] winery and dedicated it to making Burgundian-style Chardonnay. His success encouraged other Californian winemakers to follow suit and culminated in [[Chateau Montelena]]'s victory over Burgundy Chardonnay in the 1976 [[blind tasting]] event conducted by French judges known as the [[Judgment of Paris (wine)|Judgment of Paris]]. In response, the demand for Californian Chardonnay increased and Californian winemakers rushed to increase plantings.<ref name="Oxford pg 128">Robinson, 2006, p. 128.</ref> In the 1980s, the popularity of Californian Chardonnay increased so much, the number of vines planted in the state eclipsed that of France by 1988. By 2005, nearly {{convert|100000|acre|ha}} accounted for almost 25% of the world's total Chardonnay plantings. The early trend was to imitate the great Burgundy wines, but this soon gave way to more rich buttery and [[oak (wine)|oaked]] styles.<ref name="Oxford pg 154-156"/> Starting with the 1970s, the focus was on harvesting the grapes at more advanced degrees of ripeness and higher [[Brix]] levels. New oak barrels were used to produce wines that were big in body and [[mouthfeel]]. [[Frank J. Prial]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' was an early critic of this style, particularly because of the lack of [[Wine and food matching|"food friendliness"]] that was common with these massive wines.<ref name="Robinson pg 106-113"/> Another criticism of California Chardonnays, and one that has been levied against other Californian wines, is the very high [[alcohol level]]s which can make a wine seem out of balance. In recent years, California winemakers have been using process such as [[reverse osmosis]] and [[spinning cone]]s to bring the alcohol levels down to 12 to 14%.<ref name="Clarke pg 63-73"/>

[[File:Unstirred and stirred barrels of chardonnay on lees.jpg|left|thumb|Chardonnay is often aged on its lees in barrels with the lees periodically stirred to give it a softer, creamy mouthfeel. The example on the right is a barrel of Chardonnay that has had its lees recently stirred.]]
The California wine regions that seem to favor producing premium quality Chardonnay are the ones that are most influenced, climatically, by coastal [[fog]]s that can slow the ripening of the grape and give it more time to develop its flavors. The regions of [[Alexander Valley AVA|Alexander Valley]], [[Los Carneros AVA|Los Carneros]], [[Santa Maria Valley AVA|Santa Maria Valley]], [[Russian River Valley AVA|Russian River Valley]], and other parts of [[Sonoma county wine|Sonoma County]] have shown success in producing wines that reflect more Burgundian styles.<ref name="Rob pg 101-106"/> Other regions often associated with Chardonnay include [[Napa Valley AVA|Napa Valley]], [[Monterey County, California|Monterey County]], and [[Santa Barbara County, California|Santa Barbara County]]. The California [[Central Valley (California)|Central Valley]] is home to many mass-produced Chardonnay brands, as well as [[box wine|box]] and [[jug wine]] production. While the exact style of the wine varies by producer, some of the ''terroir'' characteristics associated with California Chardonnay include "flinty" notes with the Russian River Valley and mango and [[guava]] from Monterey. A large portion of the Californian sparkling wine industry uses Chardonnay grapes from Carneros, Alexander, and Russian River valleys, with these areas attracting the attention of Champagne producers such as [[Bollinger]], [[Louis Roederer]], [[Moët et Chandon]], and the [[Taittinger family]], which have opened up wineries in last few decades.<ref name="Clarke pg 63-73"/>

===New York===
[[File:ChardHarvest.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Chardonnay harvest in the Hudson River Region AVA]]
Chardonnay was one of the first European grape varieties to have been grown commercially east of the Rocky Mountains. After three centuries of failure with ''V. vinifera'', this achievement was realized in the [[Finger Lakes AVA|Finger Lakes]] region of upstate New York. Frenchman Charles Fournier and Russian [[Konstantin Frank]] experimented with Chardonnay and other varietals in hopes of producing sparkling wines based on Old World grapes for the Gold Seal wine company. In the late 1950s, they succeeded in harvesting the first commercial quantities of European grapes in eastern North America.<ref>Richard P. Vine, Ellen M. Harkness, Sally J. Linton ''" Winemaking: from grape growing to marketplace "(Second Edition)'' p. 19, Springer 2002 {{ISBN|0-306-47272-4}}.</ref> Frank went on to found Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars which helped demonstrate that a winery in the eastern US can produce European-style wines as a basis for a winery business. Chardonnay became an important part of that strategy.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

New York, like Burgundy and Washington, is a cool-climate viticultural region. Being cold tolerant, the Chardonnay grape is well suited for New York. Not only can it endure its cold winters, but also  buds late, reducing the risk of spring frosts. New York's comparatively cooler growing season causes slower ripening, requiring a longer time on the vine, which allows the grapes to develop greater complexity and character at more reasonable sugar levels than warmer Chardonnay-producing regions. New York has subsequently developed significant plantings of the variety<ref name="winesny">WinesNY [http://www.winesny.com/NewYorkWines/Articles/Chardonnay-2009/New-York-Chardonnay-Overview-2009p1.aspx New York Chardonnay] Accessed: May 31, 2009.</ref> since Fournier and Frank's early experiments.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

===Other states===
[[File:Washington chard.jpg|left|thumb|A Chardonnay from the [[Columbia Valley AVA]] of Washington]]
[[Washington (wine)|Washington]] Chardonnays can be very similar to Californian Chardonnays, but tend to have more emphasis on fruit than creaminess. In 2000, it was the most widely planted premium wine grape in the state. Rather than using Dijon clones, Washington vineyards are planted with clones developed at the University of California-Davis that are designed to take longer to ripen in the warmer weather of the state's wine regions. This allows winemakers to maintain the acidity levels that balance the fruity and flint earthiness that have characterized Washington Chardonnay. [[Apple]] notes are common, and depending on producer and appellation, can range from flavors of '[[Golden Delicious]]' and '[[Fuji (apple)|Fuji]]' to '[[Gala (apple)|Gala]]' and '[[Jonathan (apple)|Jonathan]]'.<ref name="Peterson">J. Peterson-Nedry ''Washington Wine Country'' pp. 60-63, Graphic Arts Center Publishing 2000 {{ISBN|1-55868-503-0}}.</ref> In Oregon, the introduction of Dijon clones from Burgundy has helped to adapt the grape to the Oregon climate and soils.<ref name="Oxford pg 154-156"/>

===Canada===
[[File:Old Vines Chardonnay.JPG|right|thumb|A 50-plus-year-old vine planting of Chardonnay in Ontario]]
In [[Canada]], Chardonnay has seen some success with rich, oaky styles produced in [[Ontario (wine)|Ontario]] and lighter styles produced in [[Quebec]] and [[British Columbia]].<ref name="Clarke pg 63-73"/> In 2009, Le Clos Jordanne winery, of Jordan Village on the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, received critical acclaim for its 2005 Claystone Terrace Chardonnay, which won the top spot for Chardonnay in the "Judgement of Montreal" experts’ tasting. This recognition, which caught the attention of the wine community, resulted from a blind tasting held in Quebec for ''Cellier'' magazine. Thirty-three years after the "Judgment of Paris", ''Cellier'' organized a blind tasting in Montreal based on the Judgment of Paris. In the "Judgement of Montreal", 10 judges at the ''Cellier'' tasting assessed 16 red and 14 white wines, primarily from France and California. The Chardonay from Le Clos Jordanne placed first out of the 14 white wines, some of which were notable international wines, including: Chateau Montelena, Mer Soleil, Kumeu River, an aged reserve wine from Rosemount Estates, and a number of Burgundian entrants from producers such as Drouhin, Lamy, Boisset, [[Maison Louis Jadot]], and others. Other great examples of Ontario chardonnay include Closson Chase and Norman Hardie from the Prince Edward County region, and Tawse Winery, Hidden Bench Vineyards, and Southbrook Vineyards from the Niagara region.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

The Chardonnay vintages of the early 1990s from British Columbia helped generate international attention to the quality of Canadian wines apart from [[ice wine]] varietals. In British Columbia, Chardonnay from the [[Okanagan (wine)|Okanagan]] are characterized by delicate citrus fruits. They are typically light-bodied, but producers who use barrel fermentation and oak aging can produce fuller-bodied wines.<ref>J. Schreiner ''The British Columbia Wine Companion'' p. 38, Orca Book Publishers 1996 {{ISBN|1-55143-061-4}}.</ref>