Chardonnay vs. Chablis

[Innkeeper]

Regarding real Chablis. It comes from the upper end of the Burgundy (another confusing word when it come to California jug wine) region. It and other chardonnay based wines from the region have used their subregional names since antiquity. Others include Montrachet, Meursault, and the various Maconnais. In recent years some of these, especially lower end ones, have added the grape name to the label in order to attact American wine buyers. Another alarming development is that some of these folks particularly from Chablis and Macon have started oaking their wines, which has not been the case before. Again this is for the benefit of American palates.