Maryland Unoaked Chardonnay

On Saturday July 5, 2025, we did a vertical Maryland unoaked chardonnay tasting with food pairings. So much chardonnay these days seems to be associated with the "oak bombs" of California so we wanted to take a deeper dive into the stainless varieties. Some wineries in Maryland are making pretty great representations and we were lucky enough to have four of them on our rack, Port of Leonardtown's, Janemark's, Two Lions' and Sugarloaf Mountain's. Unoaked or "naked" chardonnays highlight the characteristics of the grape and typically have fresher, more vibrant fruit and acidity when made and aged in stainless steel tanks instead of oak barrels. Depending on the ripeness of the grapes, you can get any combination of green fruits like apple and melon, to stone fruits and even some tropical like pineapple. It's rarely herbaceous and can have medium to high acidity. Areas in France like Chablis are only making chardonnay in this style. For the food pairings, we had steamed mussels, crab cake bites, lobster roll appetizers on puff pastry, pesto burrata, feta & watermelon skewers with balsamic glaze, goat cheese & strawberry filo cups, guacamole, cucumbers, and crackers. We started with Port of Leonardtown's. It had bright aromas of  apple, lemon and peach. Acidity was medium and it had a creamy mouth feel. There were also notes of butter and crème freishe which made us think this may have been through malolactic fermentation. Due to this, it paired best with the buttery lobster bites, mussels and pesto burrata. Janemark's was next and was definitely the brightest of the four. We got aromas of peach, pineapple, grapefruit and melon. It was medium plus acid and even had some nice gravely minerality. It paired the best with the crab cake bites, mussels, burrata, goat cheese and guacamole. At 13.5% alcohol it was also the highest and very food friendly. Two Lion's was very aromatic. Pear, peach, mango, lime and chalk were very present. Acid was medium minus and alcohol was 13%. Crab bites and mussels were the best pairings. Sugarloaf Mountain's was the youngest, 2024, and the highest acidity. It was also the only one we got floral notes from. Citrus blossom, honeysuckle, green apple, melon, mango and chalk were our aromas and flavors for this one. It paired well with balsamic and feta, goat cheese and the crab bites. We definitely feel like we came away from this one with a better understanding of unoaked Maryland chardonnays. Not too many wineries are making it in this style. These four are doing a fantastic job.