Who would have guessed? English chardonnay, in its taut, hedgerow-scented glory, is giving chablis, the stony, steely white burgundy from northern France, a run for its money. If, in 1990, when just 2 per cent of our vineyards were planted to chardonnay, you had told me that one day a still English wine made from the grape would prove to be world-class, I’d have laughed. Now, with almost a third of our 3,500 or so hectares under vine planted to chardonnay, making it our second most popular grape after pinot noir, the latest vintages are hitting the chablis heights. That’s easy to understand of England’s long, hot, dry 2018 vintage, but something of a mystery in the warm, wet, late 2019 vintage.

Source: The Times August 21, 2020 11:03 UTC