Wines We’re Drinking Now

Not Your Grandmother’s Chardonnay

By James Brock // Jul 27, 2015

This bottle went well with pork dumplings.

Chardonnay. What comes to mind when you hear that word? Oak and butter? Your sipping grandmother? Probably so.

How about, however, pale yellow, crisp, a slight, almost imperceptible yet refreshing buttery finish? That is more to my liking, and I tasted one – a 2012 Racines de la Terre, from Languedoc – this past weekend at dinner. It was 100 percent Chardonnay, grapes from vineyards near Carcassonne (between Minervois and Corbières, to be exact). Alcohol was 13 percent.

We tasted pear and, very faint, apple. With too many wines, one cannot tell which grape (or grapes) went into the bottle; I like to drink wines that come from somewhere, whose origins have not been manipulated out of existence. This Chardonnay is one of them. You can get your own for around $13 locally.

Looking for more wines? Check out these links:

http://www.papercitymag.com/culture/wines-were-drinking-now-a-california-zin-from-a-famous-family-name/

http://www.papercitymag.com/culture/wine-talk-opening-bottles-and-minds-with-one-of-houstons-top-sommeliers/