Back in the '90s, New World Chardonnay meant ripe fruit with sweetly spicy oak; this cool-climate Californian Chardonnay is exactly what a New World chardie should be - ripe, pleasing and easy-drinking yet also sophisticated, balanced and restrained.
It's bigger and fuller than an Old World / Burgundian Chardonnay, so don't take Chablis as a reference point for "cool-climate"; but by the standards of the heavy, alcoholic monoliths the New World has produced, it is decidedly restrained.
Edna Valley Vineyard Chardonnay 2016, Central Coast (Majestic, £13.99) supple and generous, with baked apple and ripe stone fruits; deftly oaked with freshness and good underpinnings.
Will age.
Good.
A versatile food wine, it will match with creamy pasta dishes, chicken and mushrooms or meaty white fish.
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