Wine buffs! Since I dislike Chardonnay, will I also dislike Chablis?

[SpeedyGonzalez]

Never tried the stuff but there's a special offer on Sainsbos website. I don't want to spend £10 and then find that it's vile.

TIA!

It depends. Do you dislike oaked Chardonnay, if so, you may like Chablis as it doesn't have the heavy butteryness of Australian oaked Chardonnay. Chablis is light and refreshing.

agree with niggle
i dislike oaked chardonnay, normal is okay and a nice chablis is just lovely

Me too - nice Chablis is great, am off to look at Sainsbos now to see if that could be our Christmas white!

Unlikely, you will probabaly like it. Spend as much as you can on Chablis, get it as stonily chalkily dry as you can, it is FANTASTIC [dribbles]

Actually, no, no, you won't like it [more for me emoticon]

chablis way nicer than chardonnay.
go for it.

Ahhh, you folks are marvellous. Thank you so much.

Nice Chablis is great.

Hmm - was inspired and popped over to Sainsbos to find there is a £13.99 Chablis on offer at 2 for £10!

Seems to good to be true but I couldn't resist such a massive bargain (has to be delivered by Tuesday 23rd BTW).

Have just bought 12 bottles - fingers crossed it's unoaked and yummy.

Yes, that's the one! (damn you, tiokiko! It better still be there when my order arrives...)

I'm sure Sainsbos have factored in the 'Sunday night MN Chablis peak' in their predicted stock levels - it'll be like the National Grid and the Corrie ad break.

Is it premier cru or a bog standard Chablis??

IMO sancerre is nicer anyway.

Agree, Sancerre is the best.

Me too, Sancerre is delicious but it's not on 2 for £10 so that's made my mind up for our easy Christmas drinker (will have something special for the meal).

It's bog standard Chab - I bought it last week. It's OK, but I wouldn't have paid £13.99 for it!

I don't like new world Chardonnay but that's due to the sun ripening the fruit too much and the big knotty grains in the oak barrels (known I think as American Oak).

Chablis grapes have less sun, are grown from flinty soil and the wine is then usually stored in oak barrels where the grain is tighter therefore less of an oaky taste 'leaks' into the wine.

Feel free to correct me, I remember that from studying for my WSET cert ten years ago so may be wrong!

IMO Chablis is far subtler and MUCH nicer than NW Chard. If it's Premier or Grand Cru then so much the better! (Slurps).

I dislike oaked Chardonnay but love a good Chablis. Darn you lot, I put my order in for the 2 for £10 well before this thread!

But, but, but it varies, as with anything. I foolishly bought a bargain price Barolo in Aldi or Lidl ( only been there once, can't remember which one ) and it was revolting. Sadly, you do get what you pay for, but having said that if its normally £13.99/bottle....

Agree re Sancerre. And Pouilly Fume. I am hoping that a kindly relly will bring some for Christmas Day.

i usually have semillion chardonnay and not being a wine buff am wondering what the chablis is like in comparison??

OP - I don't know if it was clear from all the answers above, or whether you know this already, but chardonnay is a grape and Chablis a place. Chablis wines are made from the chardonnay grape - indeed they are reputed to be some of the best chardonnay wines in the world: if you like, Chablis is a subset of Chardonnay. Chablis wines are traditionally unoaked but some winemakers there are now using oak to great effect so yours might well be oaked (but will still probably be very delicious). The chardonnay / Chablis relationship is similar to that of Sancerre and sauvignon blanc: Sancerre is a place that makes excellent wine from sauvignon grapes (New Zealand is another). Pouilly Fume, mentioned above, is similar to Chablis in that it's another place in Burgundy (much further south) that makes wines from chardonnay grapes. Characteristically they are rounder and fuller than the flinty wines of Chablis.

IMO all are delicious. Hope you enjoy yours!

Sorry - need to correct myself: Pouilly Fume is a Loire wine made from sauvignon, as is Sancerre; Pouilly Fuisse is a Burgundy wine made from chardonnay , as is Chablis (though they taste quite different)

As thereistheball has said, chardonnay is grape, the same grape Chablis is made from.

Chablis is a charming town in northern Burgundy, almost on the Champagne border.

The Sunday market is one of the best I have been to.

A good chablis tastes of limestone (yes I know), but it's incredibly good. The taste you get when you have licked a limestone pebble, with almost a hint of salt.

Of course you can buy crap chablis, but otherwise it's a lovely wine.

Well they do come from the same grape but there are so many factors involved that no two producer's wine will ever taste the same.

in fact different vintages of the same producer will taste different.

I cannot stand Australian Chardonnay but I love Chablis.

I would say to try a Macon Villages (they are cheaper than Chablis).

It seems to daft to say it but do try and spend as much as you can on a bottle of wine. When you work out how much of the bottle price is tax / duty / stockist mark up / transport you are left with about 90p worth of wine in a £6 bottle.

No wonder some of it tastes like muck.

I tend to stick to Macon Villages or a Chablis, and you can get them for around a fiver which isnt bad.

Macon Villages is basically Pouilly Fuisse but slightly less good (Fuisse is about 10 minutes from Macon). If you like Macon Villages try giving a Pouilly Fuisse a go.

Funny, everyone on this thread seems to be saying 'I don't like new world chardonnay but I do like old-world French chardonnay'. I broadly agree, which is handy since I live about 90 minutes from Chablis.

thereis - agree. It's amazing how one grape variety can taste so different. I was told once that Chardonnay is the 'beginner's choice' because its flavour is completely in your face, however I would by and large only say that is true of Chardonnay grapes grown in NW regions. 'True' Chardonnay, of Chablis, is utterly divine, and has some of the subtlest aromas of any other variety.

at your location - I bet you know all the best sites too!

Excuse poor grammar - I know what I'm trying to say!

Chablis and it's cru are from the press of
the grape,no?

First press etc....

TheBolter - wrt new world chardonnays, I've heard they will also chuck a bunch of new oak chips into the casks to accentuate the oakiness of the wine. Ugh.

Have to say this thread is making me v thirsty now.