Collection: Better with Butter - Chardonnay
The secret: When wine is aged in oak, it takes on a rich vanilla flavour due to how the tannins interact with the soft wood of the toasted barrel. Just by aging wine on oak only supports in flavours of vanilla and crème brulee; to make Chardonnay buttery, Malolactic fermentation (MLF) needs to happen. During which, it produces a compound called Diacetyl. MLF would then convert the sharper malic acid to a softer lactic acid to form this buttery flavour.
You would often find winemakers involve the process of stirring of lees (Battonage – stirring dead yeast in barrel) after MLF to enhance mouthfeel by releasing mannoproteins and other creamy compounds into the wine! Here are some of our top picks :