What SHOULD be the Queen of Whites?

[Thomas]

Stevebody, I think you know that part of what do in the wine biz is teach the subject. When I teach I also learn, and I have learned that a lot of people run around believing information about wine as fact when most of it is really opinion or subjective evaluation.

As a teacher, I try to make people think about the ramifications of such things. My aim is to keep people exploring and for that they need to stay open to all wines, whether or not I agree with the choices they make. I happen to think Chardonnay isn't over-rated, just overdone and thereby misunderstood. But Viognier, Riesling, and a host of other whites have little relationship to Chardonnay, and in many cases their use is different than the use Chardonnay is put to, relative to food. So, they are not replacements for or better than Chardonnay--just different.

Take all that into consideration, plus the fact that I do not like competition in wine, and you get a response such as the one I gave.