What with the arrival on these green shores this week of the Queen, and this is not the place to discuss your sour grapes or not about her arrival as we decided to focus on a Queen of another sort, our number 1 white grape, Chardonnay. Say what you will about Chardonnay, despite years of abuse and bad winemaking techniques it still produces some of the most majestically wines out there, therefore we are dedicating this week to the Queen of Grapes.

Firstly a small bit of background, Chardonnay is believed to have originated in Burgundy, France where some of the best examples are still made, think Chablis, Mersault and Montrachet. But it is now found almost everywhere the fruit of the vine is turned in to liquid joy! Chardonnay is a very malleable, grape meaning it adepts well to different sites around the world and can be given the kiss of oak, this as we will discuss later is probably what lead to its world conquering and eventual down fall, but like a good things you can’t keep her down!! She’s on the way back up and she is looking to claim her crown back from the pretenders Princess Pinot Grigio and Csarinna Sauvignon Blanc.