California Chardonnay Recommendations

[JeremyMullman]

A few of my favorites:

Rivers-Marie
Liquid Farm
Brewer Clifton
Smith-Madrone
Sojourn

[Adam_Frisch]

Kutch, Model Farm, Arnot Roberts, Rhys and Liquid Farm fit your mold of the first two.

I haven’t had Littorai in a while, but if you like Failla they are similar.

Adam, if you haven’t tried the Chards from Lingua Franca, Cameron, and Walter Scott in Oregon, they are fantastic (read: not lean, but balanced fruit and acids) in a less opulent style compared to the big hitters:

Morlet, Peter Michael, Kistler, Marcassin, and to a lesser extent, Aubert. I don’t consider Aubert as blousy or oak heavy as the others. YMMV

Thanks, John. I’ll try to get my hands on some of those. I know they can be pretty hard to get.

[John_Glas]

Anderson’s Conn Valley

[Dmytro_Marushkevych]

Someone already mentioned it, but I want to give another shout out to Talley, especially their single vineyard bottlings.

[Adam_Levyn]

Thank you everyone for all of the responses!

[Casey_Hartlip]

Navarro grand reserve.

[Matt_Mauldin]

My faves:

Ceritas
Au Bon Climat
Stony Hill
Smith Madrone
White Rock
Rhys
Mount Eden
Mayacamas
Arcadian

[Bill_H]

Aubert and Vice Versa

My top two as well

[Mark_Donnelly]

I’d add in Paul Lato to the list. Other already mentioned that I like a lot: DuMol, Brewer Clifton, Morlet, Arnot-Roberts.

[Scott_Brunson]

Anyone tried DuPuis yet?
I have them but haven’t popped a cork.

[rsmithjr]

Nobody mentioned Rombauer. Open a bottle at a party and the Chardonnay drinkers come running…

[Chadly_S]

I don’t drink much Chardonnay, but when I do, Ladd makes a nice one and he usually has offers for Berserkerday. Sojourn and Liquid Farm are my other two producers I drink.

[Mike_Cohen]

To the OP, I think it’s of critical importance that you narrow down your style preferences dramatically. While I haven’t had a lot of these wines I think you’d be hard pressed to think that Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay or Martinelli are remotely similar in style to Rhys or Kutch.

The last time (full disclosure it was a long time ago) I had a Beringer PR, I spit it out and dumped bottle. Undrinkable oak bomb.

[Scott_Brunson]

Nobody mentioned Rombauer. Open a bottle at a party and the Chardonnay drinkers come running…

Women of a certain age?

[HoosJustinG]

To the OP, I think it’s of critical importance that you narrow down your style preferences dramatically. While I haven’t had a lot of these wines I think you’d be hard pressed to think that Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay or Martinelli are remotely similar in style to Rhys or Kutch.

The last time (full disclosure it was a long time ago) I had a Beringer PR, I spit it out and dumped bottle. Undrinkable oak bomb.

100% this … do you want something that smacks you in the face or do you want a Burgundy lookalike? Both are available in California from quality producers (as well as plenty in between).

[Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e]

Ceritas

[David_Bu3ker]

Another vote for Ramey, as well as Massican, Failla and Ladd.

[Mel_Knox]

Marcassin no longer buys grapes from Martinelli. Not only did Marcassin buy grapes from Martinelli, but the woman who made the Marcassin wines back in the 90s is now at Martinelli.

[rsmithjr]

To the OP, I think it’s of critical importance that you narrow down your style preferences dramatically. While I haven’t had a lot of these wines I think you’d be hard pressed to think that Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay or Martinelli are remotely similar in style to Rhys or Kutch.

The last time (full disclosure it was a long time ago) I had a Beringer PR, I spit it out and dumped bottle. Undrinkable oak bomb.

This is really the crux of the situation. Do you want flinty Chablis, creamy citrus and apple, butterscotch and oak ?

I recommended Rombauer who has gone more to the creamy citrus/mango/apple side and away from the oak bombs.

And yes women of a certain age come running and i am HAPPY to get them drunk…

[Sebastian_C]

Mount Eden
Ceritas
Stony Hill
Kalin

I like MT Eden Chards, but i find them to be big, concentrated wines. Not buttery, but with some oak notes. In my opinion, more fruit, less mineral profile. Would you agree?