With more and more people becoming active wine enthusiasts, designers have produced various styles of wine cabinet to provide a practical yet decorative solution. These wine storage cabinets come in many styles and are made from materials such as wood, stainless steel and even aluminium. Some wine cabinets are designed to be wall-mounted wine cabinets that hold the wine in conventional racking behind decorative doors. Also available are stand alone wine cabinets that store the wine in an upright position, some offering the ability to be a cooler as well. For those with more money antique wine cabinets are available from dealers and these usually take the form of stand alone wine storage cabinets or corner wine cabinets.
So what are the most ideal wines to consider when looking to stock our wine cabinets? Winemakers love the grape variety Chardonnay, as it grows easily in almost any grape-growing area and can provide wines of various styles that can be readily stored in a wine cabinet. As a result the producer can choose to use it for sparkling wine, unoaked, crisp, fresh fruity white wines or rich, oaky and buttery wines. From where most experts consider the spiritual home of Chardonnay, that is Burgundy, to Spain and Italy, Australia, Chile, and South Africa, this grape variety is very widely used.
Given this wide usage it is hardly surprising that the results are impressive. Even the most basic or cheap Chardonnay is almost always at least drinkable, whilst at the more premium end the finest wines are made with this grape variety, and all are ideal for stocking your wine cabinet. Chardonnay makes up an important part of the classic blend for Champagne and other top sparkling wines. Meanwhile in the cooler climes of Northern Italy and Chablis in northern Burgundy , Chardonnay produces still wines which have a lovely freshness, with hints of apple and minerals. By any standards Chardonnay is a very versatile grape variety. It is true that the best richer Chardonnays have a distinctive flavour that is enhanced by some aging in oak barrels, resulting in wines with ripe citrus and tropical fruit flavours and complex hints of hazelnuts, cream, vanilla and spice. Consequently this rich wine is not to everyone's taste and many people tend to dismiss other Chardonnays due to this perception, but it is important to remember the rich variety of wines and flavours that modern winemakers can produce from this grape variety.
So what wines are the ideal ones for storage in our wine cabinet? To discover the variety that Chardonnay can give away from the traditional Burgundy wines there are other Chardonnays from the south of France such as Vin de Pays d'Oc or from Austria , Italy and Spain . And of course there is an excellent range from the New World . New Zealand produces well-balanced fresh Chardonnays on both it's South and North Islands , but especially in the Marlborough region of the South Island . Meanwhile Australia and California have top-class Chardonnays as well as lots of cheapies; Chile has lovely pure fruity flavours, whilst Argentine and South Africa provide good quality at great value. Finally there's Champagne and sparkling wine, of which Chardonnay makes up an important part of the blend in many types, and if the Champagne label contains the words 'blanc de blancs' it means that it has been made with 100% Chardonnay.
