Chardonnay is now the most popular wine in the country, with California producing 32.2 million cases in 1999, almost all in the buttery-oaky style. But Stony Hill and Hanzell, joined in the 1970s and 80s by wineries like Far Niente and Forman, stubbornly clung to the older style. Now they are being joined by Russian Hill Estate Winery in Sonoma County and Melville Winery in the Santa Ynez Valley. Winemakers see the old style as more balanced and also better with food. Many of these wines benefit from a subdued use of oak, which adds to the overall impression of harmony.
All wine is fermented grape juice.
Fermentation is what converts the sugar in the juice into alcohol. But some wines undergo a second, malolactic fermentation, which converts the tart malic acid in the wine into milder, softer lactic acid. Most top red wines undergo this secondary fermentation, and so do most white Burgundies. But not until the 1980s did many California chardonnay makers use malolactic fermentation, which they believed added complexity as well as a buttery quality. Only in the 1960s did they start using oak, and malolactic only became popular in the 1980s.