Ask a Wine Pro: What Is Pink Chardonnay?
Grown in almost every major winemaking region, there are over 520,000 acres of Chardonnay vines planted around the world. The versatile white grape is notorious for its somewhat divisive nature, with expressions ranging from rich and buttery to fresh and zingy. Though the grape is ubiquitous at wine shops and restaurants, there’s one particular type of Chardonnay that might come as a surprise when you see it on a label or shelf talker: Pink Chardonnay.
Not to be confused with rosé wine — made with short macerations of red grapes — Pink Chardonnay (also known as Chardonnay Rose) is a rare, pink-skinned mutation of the classic Chardonnay grape. Though obscure, a few winemakers embraced the oddly pigmented grape, crafting expressions that showcase the variety’s distinct characteristics. Among them is natural wine luminary Stéphane Tissot. Based in France’s Jura region, Tissot is credited with being among the first to bottle Chardonnay Rose as a single varietal wine.
Elsewhere, the grape is catching on: Last year, Champagne included the grape on its list of permissible varieties. Still, there are just a handful of winemakers around the world who work with Pink Chardonnay and even fewer who produce single varietal expressions.
Like other grapes whose popularity resulted from propagation — such as Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc — Pink Chardonnay’s future is reliant on the curious winemakers who decide to clip and replant the mutation. When Tissot first spotted the pink berries, he used massal selection to expand the vine.
“I bought an old vineyard in 2004, and in the middle of it there were around 30 bunches of Chardonnay Rose,” says Tissot, who farms in Arbois. “And from that, I picked and selected a handful and planted almost one hectare in total.”
Most Pink Chardonnay savants say the grape first popped up in Burgundy in the early 1900s. The mutation is similar to the mother grape in most respects other than its slightly lower acidity and rosy skin. And, as Tissot puts it: “It’s just a little bit more rustic, a bit less fragile, a bit firmer, a bit more dense than typical Chardonnay.”
Credit: Stéphane Tissot
Though the grape long remained relatively close to its place of origin, there is now an example coming from the San Luis Obispo Coast. Rajat Parr, whose collective of wineries includes Phelan Farm, Scythian Wine Co., and Brij Wines, works with cool-climate varieties on California’s Central Coast. For the Phelan Farm label, he focuses on grapes from the Jura and adjacent alpine regions, such as Poulsard, Trousseau, Mondeuse. He also farms a special parcel of Pink Chardonnay — the first produced in the U.S.
“It grows very much like regular Chardonnay,” Parr says. “You have to pick it when the skins are ripe and when they are pink. So, it needs to grow in a cool climate because if it’s grown in a warm place, then it’ll lose all of its acidity by time it gets that color.”
Much of the sudden spark of interest in the pink-berried Chardonnay mutation can be credited to Jura’s recent rise in popularity, largely propelled by beloved niche producers like Tissot. Because of the number of old vine Chardonnay plots in Jura, the region has become something of a breeding ground for mutations and experimental wines, Tissot says.
Pink Chardonnay has become a hobby horse among certain winos, particularly the natural wine set. With such a small number of plantings, the production of Chardonnay Rose remains very limited. Tissot estimates he yields only 2,000 to 4,000 bottles of his Chardonnay Rose cuvée ‘Rose Massale’ a year. Parr estimates only 20 to 50 cases each vintage — and sells nearly all of it on a direct-to-consumer mailing list.
Tira Johnson, corporate beverage director for the We All Gotta Eat Group offers single varietal expressions of Pink Chardonnay on her heavy-hitting bottle lists at New York City restaurants Chez Fifi and Sushi Noz. While there’s the occasional pedantic, “Chardonnay-can’t-make-a-rosé” diner, Johnson enjoys the opportunity to present a familiar but altogether new grape to her clients.
“It’s an especially fun adventure for Burgundy and Jura drinkers,” Johnson, who went down a self-described Pink Chardonnay rabbit hole, says. “I love introducing them to something new and different that’s not so wild and crazy. Pink Chardonnays have a really beautiful texture. I don’t notice a huge difference from regular Chardonnay, but there is something so special about it.”
While many, if not most, wine drinkers are unaware of the grape, its inclusion as a permissible variety in Champagne brought Pink Chardonnay some level of worldwide recognition last year. While producers in the region have yet to fully welcome the new addition, Tissot and Johnson both believe many Champagne producers will begin to plant the mutation.
“I don’t know of any Champagne producers that are doing singular Chardonnay Rose bottlings, but I could totally see producers like Laherte Frères doing that — people who love experimenting with different grape varieties,” Johnson says. “I think it’s such a cool, compelling wine, and 20 years from now, it could be a relevant grape variety.”
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