Regional and Vintage-Associated Differences in Commercial Chardonnay Wines from the Shandong Peninsula and the Chugoku Region: Physicochemical, Volatile, and Sensory Profiles with Exploratory Associations with Growing-Season Climate

Integrated assessments of commercial Chardonnay wines from East Asia remain limited. This study compared wines from eight wineries—four in the Shandong Peninsula (China) and four in the Chugoku region (Japan)—across two vintages (2022–2023), with one bottle analyzed per winery–vintage combination, yielding 16 commercial wine observations. Physicochemical, HS-SPME-GC-MS volatile, sensory, and growing-season climate data were integrated. Among the sampled commercial wines, Chugoku wines generally showed higher acid retention and stronger floral–citrus characteristics, whereas Shandong wines were more fruit-forward, with higher fruity ester contributions in several 2023 samples. Exploratory climate–composition analysis identified a negative association between GDD and total terpenoids after FDR correction, whereas other associations did not remain significant after multiple-testing correction. These results indicate regional and vintage-associated differences among the sampled commercial wines. Because vinification practices and post-bottling factors were not fully controlled, climate–composition relationships should be interpreted as exploratory rather than causal.