How does Virginia Chardonnay compare with Burgundy, the spiritual home of Chardonnay?
I thought about this after I met a group of DC-based sommeliers who were participating in Chrisa Giorgi’s “We the Wine People” documentary about Virginia wine. I picked out a lineup of Virginia wines to blind taste next to comparable French wines, and she filmed the results (FYI – they loved the lineup).
One thing I noted is sommeliers have a different approach to wine tastings compared to my usual audience. While I tend to ask, ‘does it taste good?’, they prefer to ask, ‘does it taste right?’
When I say ‘right’, I’m referring to whether a wine reflects the textbook flavors, structure, and overall profile that a grape or winemaking style is typically associated with. These professionals not only look for that profile but can tease out whether it reflects a specific region.
This puts Virginia wine in somewhat of a bind. While it’s true certain producers tend to make wine that echoes those found in France, Virginia’s ‘sense of place’ is very distinct. I genuinely feel a lot of Virginia wine is…well… “Virginia-esque”, which throws off experts who open a bottle expecting to find a certain profile, and discover it doesn’t match up with their expectations for that variety.
Not only that, but I find the DC wine community tends to only be familiar with the same handful of famous wine producers. Nearly everyone in my audience knew (and had likely visited) Linden Vineyards, Lost Mountain/RdV, probably Barboursville, King Family, and Glen Manor. Almost none were familiar with Pearmund, DuCard, Ankida, Pollak, and Chatham.
For this event I picked out 7 Chardonnays from some of my favorite Virginia producers, many of which were completely unfamiliar to this group (I threw in CrossKeys as a starter wine). I also included 2 French wines, to see if I could fool them. Berry Bros. & Rudd hosted us in their upstairs office.
My main goal was to introduce Virginia wine to an audience that tends to only know the most famous Virginia producers. But a secondary goal was to see if they could distinguish between the French and Virginian wines, and if that made a difference in which they picked as their favorite.
The final lineup was divided into 3 flights of 3 wines (7 Virginia/2 French), all served blind.
Flight #1 (Ankida, Albert Bichot, Shaps ‘Wild Meadow’)
Wine #1/Ankida Ridge 2025 ($35): The group noted multiple fruit related notes, including pineapple cake and melon. A few mentioned they enjoyed the balance and thought it had nice acidity (although at least one mentioned it might be a tad higher on alcohol).
The main drawback was the group wanted more complexity. Overall, it was a crowd pleaser and ‘classic’.
Wine #2/Albert Bichot Pouilly-Fuissé 2021 ($75 at Yanis): Classic burgundy. “Butterball, salty, and reductive” were mentioned several times, especially the last two of these descriptors. I heard someone mention notes of cream and tang. Integrated and easy drinking.
Wine #3/Michael Shaps “Wild Meadow” 2023 ($40): My favorite descriptor was ‘graceful’. The group noted it had a higher level of acidity. Descriptors ranged from plush, subtle, fat and opulent. I also heard ‘salt’ as a descriptor.
It was one of the better-balanced wines of the lineup, with noticeable oak but textured and well-integrated.
Flight #2 (Pollak, Chatham, Linden Hardscrabble)
Wine #4/Pollak Vineyards 2023 ($32): Approachable, round, fruity. Led with ripeness. Floral and bright. Someone mentioned butterbeer, or maybe notes of banana on the palate.
There was a lot of discussion on the level of oak. I heard one person mention the integration was impressive, but most of the table felt it had too much (note – this group was consistently hyper aware of any oak usage).
Wine #5/Chatham Steel Chardonnay 2023 ($25): The group quickly noted how different this was from the rest of the lineup.
The consensus was it reflected a cooler Chablis style, with higher acidity and toasty aromatics. I heard various descriptors, including citrus-apricot, salt, and green apple. If anything, it was higher on the acidity than some preferred.
One person unwittingly got it on the nose when he said, “I bet the producer wrote ‘steel chardonnay’ on the label,” which was 100% accurate.
Wine #6/Linden Hardscrabble 2021 ($55): Overall, the consensus was that this was the “most Burgundian” of the flight.
Tasters described it as ‘round’, with a creamy texture. More oak-driven than the others, but this wasn’t a negative in this case. I heard a bitter note mentioned, along with a steady mid-palate. I heard it described as the most savory and subtle of the flight.
Flight #3 (Louis Jadot, DuCard ‘Whetstone Run’, Pearmund 50th Anniversary)
Wine #7/Louis Jadot Chablis 2021 ($25): Various positive descriptors, including ‘savory’, ‘ripe and fresh’, and especially ‘nutty’. There was a brief discussion about its ‘banana foster’ quality. Balanced, tense, and heavy were also mentioned. Overall, a popular pick.
Wine #8/DuCard “Whetstone Run” 2021 ($42): This wine was zesty and easy-drinking. Descriptors included savory, stony, and steely.
Long discussion on this one. It was pretty firmly identified as ‘Virginia’ but it did have a Chablis-like quality to it. Several mentioned it also showed an almost Albariño-esque quality (this wasn’t listed as a negative; this wine was appreciated).
Wine #9/Pearmund Cellars “50th Anniversary” ($37): ‘Burgundian’, although few thought it was one of the two French wines in the lineup. The group detected oak but didn’t mind it because it was so balanced.
I heard lots of very complimentary tasting descriptors. The most frequent descriptors included ‘toasty, savory, and delicious’. I also heard sesame, chive, overripe banana, and especially sourdough. Savory and ‘whisky tannin’ were also mentioned.
This 3rd round was widely regarded as having the strongest set of contenders.
Event Favorites
At the end of the tasting, I asked the sommeliers to complete two tasks: pick their top two favorite wines of the entire event, and correctly identify the two French bottles.
For favorites, two wines quickly rose to the top: wine #2/2021 Albert Bichot Pouilly-Fuissé, and wine #9/2023 Pearmund Cellars ‘50th Anniversary’.
By a very narrow margin, the Albert Bichot was the overall favorite (6 votes), with Pearmund a close second (5 votes). Pearmund was also the overall favorite Virginia wine. Linden Hardscrabble and the Chablis were tied for third place.
France won this event – but only by a tight margin. Even so, I think this event was a huge ‘win’ for Team Virginia, when you consider that a $37 Virginia wine scored very well against a $75 Burgundy.
The 50th Anniversary Pearmund Chardonnay impressed everyone, and surprisingly only a handful in my group were familiar with this producer. As a cool sidenote, it was also made from the oldest vines in Virginia (50 years old, hence the name).
Identifying Virginia vs France
In this task, the somms killed it.
The Albert Bichot was easily identifiable as a French wine (8 of 10 correctly guessed), while the Louis Jadot Chablis was correctly selected as the second French wine of the lineup, even though it more of a struggle (5 of 10 correctly guessed).
Not surprisingly, Linden and Pearmund were the most popular alternative picks as the French wine (2 votes each), while Shaps “Wild Meadow” also got a vote. These were universally judged to be the most ‘Burgundian’ of the Virginia lineup.
Takeaways
I won’t say these were ‘surprises’, but there were a few things that stood out.
First, I was not at all surprised that Pearmund, Linden, and Shaps were the most ‘Burgundian’ wines of the entire lineup. That said, very few confused them with ‘actual’ Burgundy.
In fact, the tasting group was very good about accurately identifying the French vs Virginia wines. If anything, I was somewhat surprised I didn’t fool more people. These somms seemed more dialed-in on the French wines than a group of French sommeliers were during an event hosted by Virginia Governor’s Cup Wine Director Frank Morgan.
In May 2026, Frank organized a blind comparison called “Old World, New Roots” in Paris (close to the 50th anniversary of the famous “Judgment of Paris”) where he compared top Virginia wines (including many in my own lineup) with equivalent French wines.
At that event, the judges heavily leaned towards Virginia wines as their favorites. The top Chardonnay was actually the same 2023 Michael Shaps ‘Wild Meadow’ wine I served. According to Frank, at least one French judge was shocked to discover the Shaps wine wasn’t from Burgundy
Based on these comparisons, I believe there is plenty of evidence that top Virginia wines *can* be viewed as equal or even superior to comparable French wines, with there being enough ambiguity for judges to occasionally confuse the two regions.
Now, the bigger question is this – did the DC somms like the ‘top’ Virginia wines because they were ‘Burgundian’…or because they were ‘good’?
In this case, I think it’s a bit of both.
Yes, I think there was something of a bias in favor of the tasting profile that characterizes Burgundy. And yes, the top Virginia picks of my event leaned in that direction, profile-wise. So being ‘Burgundian’ and ‘good’ were often synonymous terms.
Even so, the somms were impressed by the diversity of quality Chardonnay available to them.
It’s true that only a few were ‘Burgundian’ in character. But my personal takeaway is Virginia Chardonnays don’t need to be ‘Burgundian’ to be good.