Did anyone say “more Bogle!”? Probably everyone judging by its immense popularity!

Bogle is a well-known and super established wine name for Americans, with most of their cases being sold domestically, but there’s a special something about it that us Kiwis just can’t seem to get enough of!

““New Zealand is our number one export market”, said Jody Bogle, director of public relations at Bogle Vineyards during a brief visit recently.”

– The Real Review

Bogle is one of our portfolio superstars, there’s no denying it. Whilst their entire range is popular, their Estate California Chardonnay is our top-seller, with their Reserve Chardonnay and Phantom Chardonnay garnering some pretty loyal fans too. Bogle is practically synonymous with the varietal, so you can imagine our excitement when the opportunity arose to stock an offshoot from the Bogle brand, ‘Twenty Acres’ Chardonnay!

This completes the ‘family’ for us, with all four Chardonnay lines now stocked, so we thought it prime time to compare, contrast, imbibe and take a little dip into all things delicious!

‘Sixth Generation Farmers, Third Generation Winemakers’

The Bogle family have been working the land in Clarksburg, California for six generations, since the mid 1800s when Captain AJ Bogle travelled to the California Delta from his family’s homestead in Tennessee. He brought his nephew, Samuel, and together they set down their first roots farming cherries, peaches and pears. (Unfortunately, these were all uprooted during the Great Depression.)

In 1968, the potato crop failed and they looked at alternatives. Warren Bogle (4th generation) set down the roots that would pave the new path for Bogle by planting 20 acres of vineyards – Chenin Blanc and Petite Sirah – and the family spent 10 years cultivating the fruit and selling it to other wineries in the area. In 1978, they decided they wanted to try their hand at their own wines and so began the Bogle vineyards legacy.

“Thank goodness the potatoes failed…”
-The Bogle Family

The winery started out modest, and the 5th generation Bogles – Patty and Chris – worked long hours from their home offices. “Dad farmed while Mom did the books at night, with offices in our family home overlooking the vineyards.” says their daughter, Jody. They aspired to have 1000 acres planted, a milestone that they achieved shortly before Chris passed in 1997. The 6th generation Bogles worked alongside their mother, Patty, following this. Over the next decade Warren, Jody and Ryan had all moved back home to work full-time on the day-to-day operations of their family. Under their guidance, Bogle is up to 1,900 acres and growing.

When visiting in 2020, we had the opportunity to talk to Jody about life in the winery nowadays. “We want to make wines that people want to drink, and we evaluate this constantly,” she said, “We frequently get together and blind taste our wines alongside others available in the same brackets as ours. We want to stay honest and challenge ourselves, but we do almost always find our wines to be the ones we keep going back to. They’re just delicious.”

The Twenty Acres brand honours those first twenty acres of vines that Warren Bogle planted in 1968. The third generation of farmers, but the pioneering first generation of Bogle winemakers. Each Twenty Acres wine has a small addition of a Bogle heritage varietal. (In the Chardonnay’s case, it is lifted with a touch of heritage Chenin Blanc.)

“As kids we watched our parents dedicate all they had to raising us and growing the family business. We learned the power of hard work through their example and they fostered our connection to the land, which continues to grow stronger from harvest to harvest.” says Jody Bogle of the current generation, “Farming this land has always grounded us. Now with children of our own, we better appreciate the importance of sustainability and preserving the land for future generations, just as our parents and grandparents did for us.”

One of the most iconic pictures that embodies that generational integrity of Bogle, is the old, grainy snap of Chris Bogle (5th Gen) teaching his son Warren (6th and current Gen) how to drive the vineyard tractor. We see similar snaps today, of Warren teaching his son, and this is represented in their logo – the ol’ family tractor, doing the hard yards through the years.

You’re familiar with the Estate Chardonnay, Reserve Chardonnay and Phantom Chardonnay, so today’s all about the Twenty Acres! 

Twenty Acres Chardonnay is crafted to capture the essence of Clarksburg, with expressive aromas and flavours of fresh green apples and pears – similar to the flavours we know and love from the other Bogle lines, but with the small addition of Chenin Blanc, a variety planted in the original twenty acres, which adds a unique line of notes to this wine. Honeysuckle and floral aromatics, bright melon flavours, and crisp acidity are a wonderful underscore to the toasty vanilla and caramel notes, along with a rich texture.

Bogle is extremely dedicated to staying sustainable. An increasingly important trait, Bogle has embraced this ethos wholeheartedly and is leading the charge. In 2018 they were awarded the Green Medal Leader Award, which recognizes the vineyard that best demonstrates environmentally sound, socially equitable and economically viable sustainability practices. 96% of all grapes crushed at Bogle are certified Green.

We are so thrilled to complete our Bogle Chardonnay family by introducing Twenty Acres to the fold. We immensely value our relationship with Bogle and are so heartened by Kiwis adopting this big, bold brand into their homes, hearts and glasses and making New Zealand a key part of Bogle’s international fan club.

At this current time, we’re reserving the Twenty Acres Chardonnay for our On-Premise customers, so if you’re on the hunt for it you may need to visit a local restaurant!

If the world of wine were to hold a crown, chardonnay would certainly be the golden jewel at its centre.

Chardonnay holds the title for being one of the most widely planted grape varieties in the world. It is a direct descendant of the pinot noir variety (a little fun-fact!) It was a cross between the pinot noir grape and another ancient variety, the gouais blanc. But unlike the temperamental (albeit delicious,) pinot noir vines from which it came, chardonnay shows an extraordinary adaptability to thrive in almost every region and terroir where it’s cultivated.

Chardonnay had its humble beginnings in none other than Burgundy, and was quickly spread around all the French regions by the monks who tended the vineyards. But it was not the impressive speed of its growing popularity that to this very day makes this golden grape so famous. It was the wine it produced and still continues to produce. The most celebrated Crus in Burgundy, as well as the Blanc de Blancs in Champagne are made from chardonnay.

When the ‘new-world’ countries stepped up to bat, they took reference from the old-world gurus. What was the best made from? How were they doing it? And so, French grape varieties started to spread once more, including chardonnay.

Chardonnay saw nothing but success for centuries. It was the pinnacle of fine wine, with only one rather recent speedbump marring its good name. The ABC (“Anything but chardonnay,”) movement is one which took hold after yet another particularly booming decade in the 90’s. The extreme popularity of chardonnay meant many new-to-the-game producers wanted in on this trend. They started to churn out chardonnays that were heavily oaked in order to poorly mimic the qualities of Burgundy Crus. The oak wasn’t inherently bad, but it was heavily overused in many respects. And thus the ABC movement began.

This movement of course, was but a blip for this variety. It takes a little more than a few years of naive over-oaking to permanently damage the glowing reputation it has spent so many years building. In 2016, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association found 32% of people had consumed chardonnay in the last month, making it the UK’s third most popular wine behind Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc (47%). Even the strictest ABC’er not yet willing to let go of the grudge against chardonnay can sometimes be found enjoying a sneaky Chablis every so often…

The chardonnay grapes produce elegant wines with aromas of acacia, hazelnut, almond, brioche and citrus fruit when the wine is young, but that isn’t to say the grape isn’t versatile. Quite the opposite, in fact it boasts a large variety of aromatic possibilities, different palate structures, acidity and body levels, but it almost always remains rich and complex, making this grape variety remarkably easy to pair.

The richness of chardonnay is particularly marvellous with lobster, crab or sushi. You could also relish this golden goodness with a large variety of white meats like chicken or pork (perfect for the barbeque…) but also with different cheeses because of its natural acidity.