Article on new oak and Chardonnay in WS

[wondersofwine]

Well, the criticism of Robert Mondavi's style was followed up with an article about chardonnay in California and Australia and about the great increase in use of new oak barrels for fermenting and storage. It will apparently be increasingly difficult to find "unoaked" Chardonnays in the New World. I'm not entirely on either side of the question. I seem to like a mild nuance of oak but want it to be subtle, not obvious. One of my current favorites of California chardonnays is from Sonoma-Cutrer and I suspect that it spends some time in oak barrels.

[Bucko]

I have to wonder a little about WS and their oak tolerance or what they perceive as minimal oak influence. They list a Gallo of Sonoma Chard as minimal oak influence, while I found the wine to be medium to heavily oaked. Not a bad wine at all, just not my style.

Bucko