WHICH CHARDONNAY IS BETTER? AUSTRALIA VS. CHILE! SAME RATING ON VIVINO
Channel: ZIGGING by Mark Sigg
Date: 2021-06-10

Australian Chardonnay vs. Chilean Chardonnay: which Chardonnay is better? I am always on the quest to find the best value wines we have here in the Philippines. Put simply, I'm here to help you and share the best cheap wines in the Philippines! While I've put out a handful of wine videos on my recommendations for affordable price points, I continue my quest in finding the best wines with the best bang for buck!

Here I'm presenting a Chardonnay Face-Off. Together with my girlfriend Jonessa, we previously put head-to-head a Californian Chardonnay from Napa and a French Chardonnay from Burgundy as a New World vs. Old World wine face-off. I wanted to revisit this Chardonnay Challenge with my latest finds. This time, it wasn't going to be battle between New World vs. Old World winemaking. What got me thinking was finding that I had two Chardonnays rated exactly the same at the Vivino app at 3.5 stars. I also bought these wines between to P300 to P400 from Wine Depot (http://bit.ly/ziggwinedepot). So with these wines pretty much at equal footing, I put these two to the test. Which Chardonnay do I like better? And will I agree with the popular ratings on Vivino or will these white wines underdeliver? Or overdeliver?

The 1st Chardonnay that I'm featuring here is from Chile. From the Casablanca Valley along the long Pacific coastline of Chile, I am sharing here a 2018 Reserva from Errazuriz. Errazuriz is an esteemed producer not only of Chile but from all of South America. With Casablanca being situated near the coast, the grapes are thus grown under a very humid climate. On the glass, this Chardonnay is expectedly golden, but a little towards the lighter side colored like s straw. On the nose, this Chardonnay from Errazuriz exhibits very fruity citrus notes: Lemon and Pineapple, while also showing slight hints of that flinty burnt match scent. The surprising thing about this Chardonnay is that it drinks similarly to a Sauvginon Blanc. In fact, I had the Sauvignon Blanc variant from Errazuriz previously and found they taste quite similarly despite these two varietals growing into different vineyards of this winemaker. The wine is said to be oaked but surprisingly, it doesn't have the oaky and buttery textures that typical Chardonnays would have. This is not a bad thing as I actually prefer Sauvignon Blanc over Chardonnay! But If you're looking for that popular quality of Chardonnay that's creamy and oily, this might not be it for you.

The 2nd Chardonnay that I'm featuring here is from Australia. From Riverina along the southwestern tip of the state of New South Wales, I have here a 2019 Chardonnay from De Bortoli under their brand: "the Accomplice". The De Bortoli Family is one of the largest and most respected producers of wine in Australia. This winemaker is currently run as a 4th Generation Family Business with their heritage coming from Italy. I always find it more interesting when wine is made by its original proprietors! Interestingly, a sharp contrast exists on the growing conditions of this Chardonnay. Riverina, is known to be a very dry region. So an interesting comparison is available here where the Chilean Chardonnay is grown at a humid climate while this equally popular Australian Chardonnay is grown at a dry climate. More than this being a face-off between two new world wine regions, a sharp contrast on the climate they're grown under makes it a curious comparison.

The contrast from this Australian Chardonnay is extensive. On the glass, this wine is slightly more golden. On the nose, it immediately made me recall wheat beer! It smells like Hoegaarden, Oettinger wheat beer, or locally, Brew Kettle beer. Similar to Hoegaarden, it also has a scent of bananas. It drinks quite similarly to wheat beer as well! This Chardonnay is more typical to what's expected of this varietal. Although on that oily texture, the tasting note is more towards coconut oil rather than butter so I thought that that's pretty interesting.

So how do I find these two white wines that are rated the same on the Vivino app? I've enjoyed both these wines but unfortunately I have to pick a winner! For Errazuriz, I am rating this slightly higher than Vivino and giving it a score of 73 out of 100. For the Accomplice from De Bortoli, I am again rating it higher than its 3.5 rating on the Vivino app and scoring it a 76 out of 100. That's right, I am rating the Australian higher than the Chilean so the former would be my winner! In many ways, I prefer the Chilean but only because I prefer the citrusy taste of Sauvignon Blanc. Judging this from a Chardonnay perspective, it seems only proper that I pick De Bortoli!

#AustralianChardonnay
#ChileanChardonnay

Photo credits to José Porras

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