Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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Launched in 2010, Kendall Jackson's Avant Chardonnay appealed to consumers who wanted a fresher, more approachable, lighter-style chardonnay. determine the viability for the U.S. market of an unoaked chardonnay. By the mid-2000s, the research began to pay off. "We knew that there was a new consumer out there that wanted a wine with lower oak, a wine that was more aromatic and slightly crisper, so we sought to make a wine that would fit into that niche," KendallJackson's chief winemaker Randy Ullom told me. The wine that Kendall-Jackson launched in 2010 was called KendallJackson Avant. Ullom said it "wasn't aimed at converting those normal buyers who like barrel fermentation. "But we did market research and found that 17% of consumers said to us, 'We want something younger, fresher, and more approachable.' This wasn't the older consumer, but it was the younger generation. These are buyers who are perfectly fine with screwcaps and diversity in the wines they like." Job Bonne, wine editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, believes that a good deal of the interest in lighter styles of chardonnay is based on an older consumer who is thankful that the style of wine once in favor in California is returning. The "new" style of chardonnay "goes back to a style that California was still doing back in the late 1980s and early 1990s," Bonne told me. "And frankly there are consumers who have been around for a long time and remember when they loved California chardonnays that focused on fruit and not complexity, and wondered what happened to it. Now they are finding a renaissance" in that style, he said. But he also acknowledged the impact that the new Millennial buyers will have on the U.S. wine market for new wines and new styles in the coming few years. "There are 70 million new wine drinkers coming on line who have different expectations, and these lighter styles [of Chardonnay] are appealing to many newer buyers." The phenomenon of more delicate chardonnay, starting more than a decade ago here, soon led to all sorts of wines made in a similar mold. "Unoaked" was one term that was widely used, but there are also the terms Naked, Unwooded, Oak Free, and others. Morgan Vineyards in Monterey County has a no-oak Chardonnay it calls Metallico. That refers to the stainless steel tanks that are the only vessels the wine ever saw. When I first saw this style of wine, I suspected it would appeal primarily to Chablis lovers since the top wines of that Burgundian district are, by and large, not aged in new barrels, and have a very low-oak regime. If any at all. Morgan Metallico And to a degree, Unoaked the unwooded styles Chardonnay. of American chardonnay did have a greater appeal along the East Coast of the United States, which has a long, historical love for Euro-styles that never developed that kind of traction along the west coast. But it is also clear that the huge increase in unoaked chardonnays, over the last several years and in many regions of the country, is based on a number of other factors, some of which are purely economic. The cost of French oak barrels, for one thing: They are now $1,000 each or more, and may be used to greatest efficiency for three years at most. After which, some wineries saw them in half and sell them as planters for $8.99 a halfbarrel. Moreover, aging a wine in oak adds months to the time before which it can be sent to market, delaying profitability. Ullom of K-J was asked if this lower-oak, lower-alcohol style of wine signals a transitory trend and that it may fade soon. "I don't think so," he said. "I think it's just creating a line extension [and] it's here to stay for a long time. 34 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • January/February 2014 Contact Cheryl Naughton at 678-292-6054 cnaughton@specialtyim.com