What Wine Has Kept the American Wine Business Humming Along

It's the story of California Chardonnay. You've heard the bad news about the current problems in the wine industry. The younger consumers aren't drinking as much wine and there are the tariffs. The fact is, the American wine industry came from an afterthought to prominence a half-century ago and has been growing most of that time.

In 1975 there were over 300 wineries in California. Ten years later it had doubled. Currently, there are almost 5,000. That sounds like success. 

One grape has been Mr/Ms. Steady for all that time. Chardonnay.

Where it all started

Chardonnay was imported to the Livermore area of northern California in the late 19th and early 20th century. Over the years, it mutated into what's known as the Wente clone (named for the Wente family of Wente Winery in Livermore). Today, 75% of California's Chardonnay is from this clone.

 The Judgment of Paris in 1976 put California wine on the map. Chardonnay seemed to get the biggest bump after Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay whooped on Burgundy.

In 1970 California had 3,000 acres of Chardonnay vines. Today it is the most planted grape in the state with 90,000 acres. In 1970 Sonoma County had 300 acres of Chardonnay. Today it's over 15,000 and the most planted grape in the county. That sounds like success.

The California style of Chardonnay comes from more sun and warmth than found in France, plus the use of malolactic fermentation and oak barrels. It comes in styles ranging from that big buttery, high viscosity California style to lean, stark and minerally. Not all California Chard is oaky and buttery; much of it is in a leaner style.

Besides Wente, there were other early pioneers. Stony Hill in Napa with their 1952 Pinot Chardonnay, as it was called back then. Hanzell Winery, near the town of Sonoma, released their first Chardonnay, a 1957 vintage, from vines they planted in 1953. 

Maybe the first popular Chardonnay in the post Judgment in Paris years was the Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay, first released in 1982, selling for under $10. It sells about two million cases a year, about half of K-J's total production. That sounds like success.

Today, France and the U.S. are the top Chardonnay producers. France grows about 110, 000 acres, the U.S. 101,000 (90,000 of that in CA), out of about 495,000 worldwide.

This one's even gotten
the nickname of Cougar Juice  :)