Mick O’Connell on wine: It’s time for chardonnay to shine once again

Forget the buttery, over-oaked and cloying examples of the 1990s; today’s chardonnay producers are making some wonderful wines

Peter-Allan Finlayson in his vineyard in the Hemel en Aarde area of South Africa: “his chardonnay is a brilliant example of what can be achieved on cooler plots”

As a wine nerd, the most common question I get asked is “what’s your favourite wine?”. My dad-joke answer is always the same: “the one that’s free”.

While I do like being bought a glass or three, the real answer to that question is that my favourite wines are those from the Burgundy region in France, and particularly the great whites of the region. I’ve had more jaw on the floor moments from these wines ...