Chardonnay is perhaps the most versatile of all grapes - from steely cool-climates to warm, with oak and without, sparkling and still, it covers all the mainstream styles eschewing only sticky and fortified versions.
Chardonnay is the great grape of Champagne, white Burgundy and more latterly ripe-oaky New World styles.
After becoming everyone's go-to white in the 1990s, New World Chardonnays got ever bigger, riper and oakier in a sort of more-is-better cycle.
These days, a good New World Chardonnay is often a more restrained, more nuanced affair, with good fruit expression and subtle oaking. Outside of France, Chardonnay is perhaps most associated with Australia and California, but pretty much everywhere you've heard of makes some.
This Familia Zuccardi Chardonnay is, as the name suggests, from a family-run winery and is modern, classic New World style; clean, pure and deft; Burgundian yet better value than an equivalent Burgundy.
Familia Zuccardi Chardonnay Q 2017 (£15.99) citrus, melon and orchard fruits with zippy lime zest and deft oaking. Fresh and substantial. Pure, precise and mineral with excellent underpinnings.
Good.
A versatile wine, drink as an aperitif or match with white fish or white meats
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