Chardonnay in use at France Etalons
Max Kühner’s World Cup star Chardonnay covers 2026 in France
from Dominique Wehrmann 
Chardonnay with Max Kühner at the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg. Photo: sportfotos-lafrentz.de Chardonnay is already listed with“France Etalons” and will be presented at the Haras de St. Lô, where breeders will also be able to see him at a stallion show at the end of February. Max Kühner has always described Chardonnay as a horse close to his heart. In an interview with St.GEORG, he once described what is special about the gray horse is that he is not afraid of anything, regardless of whether it is an unfamiliar object in the arena or a challenge on the course. Chardonnay has proven this for years in sport.
Sporting career
In 2014, Max Kühner, like Hugo Simon before him, changed nationality and decided to ride for Austria instead of Germany. His first championship horse was Coeur de Lion. But the real Lion was probably Chardonnay, as Kühner describes him. He and his long-time rider Helmut Schönstetter trained the now 19-year-old gray horse themselves and brought him into the sport. He has won show jumping competitions as well as clear rounds in Grand Prix, World Cup show jumping competitions and Nations Cups. And at championships.
The World Equestrian Games in Tryon, where the pair jumped to sixth place with spectacular rounds, will probably still be in the collective memory. The Kühner/Chardonnay duo also competed twice for Austria at the European Championships. They also qualified for two World Cup finals, finishing ninth in 2019 without a single knockdown.
Chardonnay also placed third in the Spruce Meadows Grand Prix, was second in the La Coruña World Cup show jumping competition and much more.
2019 was Chardonnay’s last season in the big sport. Although he still competed in a few smaller tests in 2021 and 2022, Kühner took him out of the sport and sent him to stud. He already has a licensed son: the Lewitz-bred Chardo Blue PS.
Breeding
Chardonnay was born at Ernst-Uwe Sachau. Through his sire Clarimo, the paternal pedigree goes back to Capitol I. On his dam’s side, Chardonnay was bred to the great Cor de la Bryère via Corrado and Carolus. In addition to Chardonnay, the Holsteiner dam line 1228 also produced other top horses, such as Athina Onassis’ 1.60 meter show jumper, AD Crosshill by Calido.
In Germany, only four of Chardonnay’s offspring are currently registered with the FN as sport horses, the oldest of which have just turned six.
