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Chardonel

Chardonel Wine Details
Price: $14.00 per bottle

Description: The quintessential picnic wine. 'Chardonel' grape resulted from the crossing of Seyval and Chardonnay in 1953 at Cornell University. The wine offers an interesting combination of flavors from each parent grape variety. Every vintage year can hold surprises in how those flavors and aromas develop. This vintage is fruity and off-dry, with a provocative spicy banana aroma. Try it with pizza or Asian cuisine.

Varietal Definition
Chardonel:
Chardonel was developed in New York State, to be a late-ripening, highly-productive, cold-climate varietal. A cross of Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc, Chardonel is proving its value in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states. Given much of the same treatment as Chardonnay, it adapts well to barrel fermention, and controlled lees contact. The result is often a full-bodied dry wine, high in alcohol and acidity, with a similar, if less pronounced character than Chardonnay.
Chardonnay:
Chardonnay is by far the most widely planted grape crop in California and dominates California’s cooler, coastal, quality wine regions. The natural varietal ‘taste and smell’ of Chardonnay is surprisingly unfamiliar to many wine drinkers, as its true character is often guised with dominating winemaking signatures. Chardonnay’s rather subdued primary fruit characteristics lean toward the crisp fruitiness of apples, pears and lemon, but the variety’s full body is capable of supporting a host of complementary characteristics, such as oak, butter and vanilla. Regardless of what is the appropriate style for Chardonnay, the varietal continues to dominate vineyard plantings in every corner of the world. Close attention to clonal selection has made this broad geographic and climactic range of Chardonnay viable in thoughtful viticultural hands.


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