Chardonnay is the world’s most famous and widely planted white variety. Despite a reputation for distinctive styles that inspire love or hate, Chardonnay is in fact one of the most neutral whites. Though weighty in texture its gentle flavours of apple, stone fruit and citrus in effect allow other elements to shine. A perfect vehicle for the butter and toasty oak flavours of the New World style, Chardonnay is equally suited to its original home in France’s Burgundy, where in much leaner and finer examples the same neutrality permits it to reveal the subtlest nuances of soil, vineyard and vintage.