Kansas grown Chardonnay

[Winehaus]

I am currently "cold stabilizing" my unoaked chard in my garage. I received the juice from freshly pressed grapes this fall(awesome bonus from the internship by the way). Do many people oak this late? I don't like the buttery taste of the over oaked chards you find in the stores in my price range but have loved some french chards from the colder climates that you can't really tell they have been oaked.

My main question is, is it to late to oak for what I'm looking for and is there an oak and toast you suggest?

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Chardonnay in KS? or is that Chardonel? You can oak at any time. Its just easier to do it early so you get the oak chips ( if using chips )out when you rack. as for the toast, if you have enough split it into gallon jugs and try two or three different ones and see which one you like the best.

 

[winemaker_3352]

The buttery taste you are talking about comes from MLF - not necessarily oaking. You can also achieve a smoother taste by sur lie aging/battonage.

You can oak at anytime - I would oak to taste - then rack off the oak...

 

[robie]

I suggest you use a lite or medium toast French oak. You can use it anytime. Taste the wine every two weeks or so. Remove the oak when it just starts getting too heavy for your taste; the oak will always back off a little over the next few months.

Such lite oaking won't give much of a buttery flavor. As was mentioned, the butteriness you don't like might have come more from an MLF than from the butteriness provided by the oak, unless maybe the oak was very pretty heavy.

 

[grapeman]

I am currently "cold stabilizing" my unoaked chard in my garage. I received the juice from freshly pressed grapes this fall(awesome bonus from the internship by the way). Do many people oak this late? I don't like the buttery taste of the over oaked chards you find in the stores in my price range but have loved some french chards from the colder climates that you can't really tell they have been oaked.

My main question is, is it to late to oak for what I'm looking for and is there an oak and toast you suggest?

Probably they have not been oaked. The fruity crisp ones generally aren't oaked to hide that crispness you are after.

 

[mjrisenhoover]

The buttery taste you are talking about comes from MLF - not necessarily oaking. You can also achieve a smoother taste by sur lie aging/battonage.

You can oak at anytime - I would oak to taste - then rack off the oak...

I agree with winemaker 3352, it's mlf that gives it the buttery taste not oak, oak gives it a well . . . an oaky taste.

 

[Winehaus]

Thanks for the replies, I'm going to pick up some french light toast oak this weekend and give that a whirl. I like the splitting it up suggestion so I'm going to do half oaked and half without. Then I can try both and blend if it seems like a good idea.

And yes it is a Kansas grown chardonnay. The people I work for have also been growing cab franc, cab sauv and Riesling for over 10 years around here. They all do really well surprisingly but some do have to be replaced every now and then when the winter gets a little too cold.

Chardonel has actually been the biggest problem because they were told it would be fine on its own roots which has turned out to be wrong. I'd say 80% or more have been lost but they do just fine on rootstock.

 

[robie]

I agree with winemaker 3352, it's mlf that gives it the buttery taste not oak, oak gives it a well . . . an oaky taste.

Take a look at the description of various oaks for wine. Butteriness is a well used descriptor.