Oaked Chardonnay Finds a Long Island Style

There’s definitely a Long Island-style to the wines being made here, from herbal and cherry-focused reds to zippy steel-fermented whites with loads of lime, mineral notes and even a seaside saline quality to them. Add to them a Long Island style of oaked chardonnay, a wine that sits between the creamy, buttery and ripe style from the West Coast and the nutty yet acidic style from France’s Burgundy region. It makes sense geographically, I guess.

2008 Reserve Chardonnay fits the local mold. Its nutty and creamy vanilla aromas mingle with the scent of dried pears, golden apple, ripe peach, and a hint of flinty smokiness. On the palate, the flavors are marked by fleshy apple, vanilla, and citrus reminiscent of lemon curd as well as crisp minerals on the finish. But while in this case pear and vanilla linger on the finish, it’s those citrus notes followed by the austere mineral flavors, though, that I’m seeing in these types of chardonnay wines that define the local characteristic.

According to Rich Olsen-Harbich, the new winemaker at Bedell, the wine was partly fermented in both oak and stainless steel, which helps it keep some of its bite. Though he wasn’t the winemaker for that vintage, Olsen-Harbich said they did not put the wine through any malolactic fermentation, a process that converts the acid in the wine and produces those buttery flavors you see in some chardonnays.

Olsen-Harbich said the wine’s “zesty aromatics are complemented by flavors of apples, pears, chamomile, and fresh-baked bread, along with the unmistakable North Fork saline minerality.”

The oaked s 2007 Estate Chardonnay has a similar flavor profile, with nutty aromas of pineapple, caramel, mascarpone cheese and baked apple. On the palate, flavors of green apple and pineapple meld with citrusy lemon pith and white grapefruit notes.

Meanwhile, Riverhead’s has also decided to produce a Long Island oaked chardonnay. Though its house chardonnay has always been blended with a low percent of barrel fermented juice, its new 2009 Rhyme and Meter Chardonnay is 100 percent fermented in oak. That wine shows aromas of apricot, lemon, white peach and kumquat as well yeasty notes like sparkling wine. On the palate, however, the creamy oak comes through, though it is still balanced by tart flavors of lemon, pink grapefruit and green pear. The finish is long and full of nutty hazelnut flavor.

All of these wines have great acidity and tart citrus flavors. And with the oaky-buttery New World style of chardonnay falling out of favor, these wines have the potential to pick up fans not only locally, but as far as distribution channels can reach.

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The problem, as with a lot of Long Island wine, is price. Bedell’s chard costs $35, while both Sherwood and Roanoke are charging $30. We’ve heard the excuses for the high prices: barrel costs, land costs, taxes, fuel costs. The same high cost of living that burdens Long Island residents also saddles its wineries. But that doesn’t change the fact that with taxes that are high for all of us, gas prices approaching $4 a gallon at the pump and the economy still hurting, a wine costing more than $30 is just not going to be considered an everyday wine, which is a shame since the style could have such wide appeal. There is no shortage of chardonnay at wine stores, and at the same time many New World producers, including many South America, are backing off the heavy oak treatment, while still delivering at more reasonable prices. They won’t have that Long Island citrus-mineral aspect, but they’ll mostly win the price battle.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t more reasonably priced oaked chardonnays on Long Island. The 2007 Russian Oak Chardonnay sells for $20. Aromas on that wine are a mix of creamy hazelnut, popcorn, lemon curd, white peach and lemongrass, while the palate is a bit more focused on the oak with flavors of hazelnut, bitter Brazil nut, red apple, tart orange, vanilla, and woodsy maple.

At Bedell, Olsen-Harbich is going to experiment with using older oak on the reserve chardonnay. Though time will tell if that will lead to a cheaper price. On the flavor side, though, the move should only amplify the citrus-mineral flavors.

“Like Cab Franc, the older barrels provide a whole other world for the wine where it gains fatness, aromas and minerality but does not get overwhelmed,” he said.