By Fred Delkin, Editor

        It seems safe to say that a majority of Americans over the past four decades first associated premium wine with Chardonnay.  This classic French white grape dominates varietal plantings in California and commands considerable acreage in virtually every one of our planet’s wine-growing regions.  The vine offers a good yield in the widest range of soils and climates.  It provides a base not only for still wines carrying its name, but is the primary grape base for most quality sparkling bottlings.

The French now honor their native grape with a massive annual tasting competition, the Chardonnay du Monde (Chardonnay of the World).  The 2001 event just concluded and involved wineries from 35 nations, who submitted 897 entries.  Since this event’s inception in 1994, France has maintained dominance in both number of entries and medals earned.  Judging strives for objectivity, with 60% of this year’s arbiters coming from outside France.  Judges deemed 30% of the wines entered worthy of a gold (19), silver (130) or bronze (147) medal. 

The French took home 128 medals, with other national winners lagging far behind.  South Africa was a surprising second with 22, Austria had 20 medals, Canada 17, Australia 14, Italy and Switzerland 13 each and Chile 11.  Among the golds, France earned 7, South Africa 3, Austria & Australia 2 each and one apiece were awarded to Chile, Canada, Italy, Germany & Switzerland.

American Medal Drought

Although latest reports indicate France and the United States are nearly equal in Chardonnay acreage, only 6 medals, none gold, were awarded to American entries (Beringer, DeLoach, Dry Creek, Gallo, Schug & Trinchero).  We credit a California winemaking desire for distinction born in the ‘60’s for this medal showing.  Trying for a style apart from the classic white burgundies of France, Golden State vintners masked grape flavor subtleties with a good long soak in oak.  This makes for Chardonnay that
drinks well by itself but ignores the European tradition (also followed in other wine regions) of matching wine with food.

The Chardonnay du Monde proves the worldwide adaptability of the grape.  Nations medaling in addition to the aforementioned leaders included Argentina (4), Belgium (1), Brazil (5), Bulgaria (4), Croatia (1), England (1), Greece (6), Hungary (1), Israel (3), Japan (1), Lebanon (2), Luxembourg (1), Malta (2), Moldavia (2), Morocco (3), Portugal (1), Romania (1), Slovenia (3), Spain (3) and Uruguay (2).  Top 10 nations in Chardonnay acreage, by rank: France, USA, Italy, Australia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Georgia (former USSR).  Looking at the medal counts, Austria and Canada boast by far the best ratio of medals per acre.  The Canadian results are split equally between British Columbia and Ontario.

Who drinks the stuff?

While we’re soaking up statistics, let’s look at who drinks the most per capita.  Luxembourg leads in fermentation adortion, consuming almost 17 gallons per year per person.  Other members of the top 10, by rank:
        France (16 gallons)
        Italy (15+)
        Portugal (14)
        Slovenia (14)
        Switzerland (13)
        Croatia (12.5)
        Argentina (10.5)
        Spain (9.7)
        Uruguay (9)
Sadly, we Yanks are not doing our part.  The USA ranks only 36th with a piddling 2 gallons apiece per annum.  Looking at the top 50 nations in per capita wine imbibing, the rear is brought up by Brazil and Japan at a rate of less than a half gallon per year.  U.S. consumption hit its per capita high in 1985 (2.43 gallons), registered just over 2 gallons this year for the first time since 1990.

Sales Rising

While we Americans are not noticeably increasing our wine consumption overall, there are those among us doing our best to maintain consumption despite rising prices.  Last year we spent a record $19 billion on wines and the national wine sales total has risen significantly for the past seven years.

U.S. wine exports (94% from California wineries) have risen dramatically to help maintain a domestic wine industry that continues to increase production.  Since 1990, U.S. wineries have recorded a 300% increase in exports.

By far the largest export market for American wines is the United Kingdom, whose citizens slurped some 17 million gallons of Yankee vintages.  Others in the top 10 in export market dollar sales: Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden.  However, the only nation among these to show a major (65%) gain in consumption is Netherlands, while declines were seen in the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and Sweden.

The largest market in the world for imported wine is Germany, undoubtedly due to a strong economy and a geographical proximity to the leading European winegrowing regions.  We personally witnessed a California wine marketing disaster in Germany in the early ‘80’s, when Golden State producers waged an expensive effort to place inexpensive jug wines on the Deutsch market.  Moral here is: quality overcomes price in attracting experienced consumers.  Not even coupons for travel discounts to Disneyland impressed the European heartland.

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Uncorkings…the world wine market has become increasingly competitive.  Government export subsidies have placed high quality wines from volume producers in regions such as Chile, Argentina, Australia and South Africa at export market price levels U.S. wineries can’t match…Canada provides tariff protection for its wine industry unmatched by any other region…the quality of British Columbia wines has seen a tremendous upsurge in the past decade, but you’ll have to go there to enjoy them…Austrian wine producers have re-entered the export market after an adulteration scandal 20 years ago virtually closed import doors to these generally excellent products and now I can buy an Austrian chardonnay in Oregon for only 500% more than it set me back in Austria this summer!…Southeast Asia is on the sales wish list of every American winery involved in export, with a vast population and a capitalist economic mindset through much of the region.  However, there has never been a wine consumption tradition amongst the Asian populace and it will take a well-fueled and creative marketing attack on the younger generations to create a wine demand. Coca Cola’s done it, why not Gallo?

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