Editing Chardonnay (section)

===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"/>