Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/46939
Oakless T Going THERE'S A GROWING DEMAND FOR CHARDONNAYS WITH SUBTLE OR ZERO OAK INFLUENCE. NEW ZEALAND'S OYSTER BAY IS LEADING THE WAY IN THIS SIGNIFICANT CONSUMER TREND by Randy Caparoso he concept of "unoaked," or at least subtly oak-influenced, Chardonnay is nothing new, but in the past it's been relegated to a peripheral market: If you were a wine store or restaurant, you would offer one or two examples for the sake of variety, and then watch more traditionally vinified (i.e., richly oaked) Chardonnays outsell them by a 1,000 to 1. But things are changing, and with significant rapidity. Jim English, the wine buyer of Vintage Grape Wine & Spirits in Manhattan, tells us that not only has the Oyster Bay Marlborough Chardonnay been one of their top sellers over the past two years, it is just one of the products Tim Whitlock, Senior VP of Operations for Oceanaire Seafood. Photo taken at their Miami restaurant. PHOTO: TOM CLARK 58 / the tasting panel / november 201 1