Well back to your question. Ramey svd chards, donum chards, aubert, marcassin, kistler, alpha omega, hartfort court, rivers marie and brewer clifton are some higher dollar examples of california chards in the tropical fruit/oakier style that would illustrate the difference that you find in cabs of higher cost. As much as I prefer chablis, mersault and other white burgs these days and certainly prefer champagne, those are apples to oranges. Same applies to rhys, liquid and ceritas I guess. Different animal than what the op is talking about.
I once read where someone said after tasting this wine that “Now I know what the Chardonnay grape tastes like.”
Here’s one in that $10-15 range that looks interesting, with some bottle age.
https://www.snooth.com/offers/blackjack-ranch-twenty-one-chardonnay-2008/
Dollar for dollar, sparkling wine is the best value in the market right now.
I don’t completely understand why that is - why still wine continues to draw top dollar - but enjoy it while it lasts.
The OP’s proposition is without context. What are you buying for $10-15 v $50? I’ve had exceptionally few experiences with really good chardonnay at $10-15. Those are wines that, in my experience, frequently make people say “I don’t like chardonnay.”
For $50 you can get incredibly good chardonnay that absolutely blow every $10-15 bottle out of the water. You can get grand cru Chablis from reputable producers, some of the best California chardonnays of every flavor profile, depending on your tastes. You can explore some exceptionally fine and burgundy-esque chards from Oregon’s best producers, and you can drink some tasty premier cru white burgundies.
While Joel Gott or Toad Hollow may be a “good bargain,” they are grossly inferior wines to what you can find for $50 if you know what you’re looking for.
But that’s precisely his problem - he doesn’t yet know what he’s looking for.
In fact, he hasn’t yet stumbled upon any evidence that what he’s looking for even exists.
There are thousands - maybe tens of thousands - of labels out there to choose from, and nobody can try them all [not even Parker or Tanzer or Laube].
If the dartboard is very very large, and if the bullseye is very very small, then sooner or later, most folks are going to quit throwing darts aimlessly and move on to some more productive use of their time and money.
My favorites have mostly crept up a lot in price, but all are French. The J.M. Boillot Montagny 1er used to be a screaming value at under $20. Loaded up on 2007 and 2008, but all are gone now. Some showed significant premox before they went as well. Regardless, now closer to $30. Used to buy Matrot Bourgogne blanc at close to $13, now over $20. Pernot and Roulot have both increased markedly.
Currently finding my best values for Chardonnay (and admittedly in my preferred style) in Chablis, where the Chablis AOC wines and the lower level 1ers can still be had affordably.
In the past five years though I drink less Chardonnay and more muscadet, chenin blanc, and Riesling.
Lol, you mean popcorn and vanilla aren’t natural chardonnay flavors?
Anyway,I’d like to second the Drouhin St. Veran recommendation made above. The 2010 Faiveley Bourgogne Blanc was also great value, not sure how much of that was the vintage.
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I completely disagree that you can’t find tasting differences in Cali chard from sub 20 to 65.
It’s a style thing with me but I defy you to find anything that competes taste wise with any ceritas chard for sub 30 out of Cali.
I simply do not drink French so I have no exposure to many listed here, but copain, ceritas, Rhys, and lf are worth every penny to me
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Don’t forget about le liquid Mark 
Hope you are having a great Summer!! When can you sneak to Cali so we can host you at the winery??
The 2019 Olivier Leflaive ‘Les Setilles’ blanc [Bourgogne] has gone up a little in price but remains delicious. It’s a mix of declassified Puligny Montrachet and Meursault, and in this vintage clocks in at 14.2%, sealed under DIAM10. I thought it was delicious with homemade Japanese style chicken karaage. I double fried the bird, but it didn’t need that.
Full bodied, light gold color, stone fruit flavor, even a touch of tropical and butterscotch notes. Over two days it drank great, but could have kept longer…but it was too tasty. I’m happy that wines like this are still available for consumers, but sad that it was my only bottle. For my tastes, I’ll slot this into the A- category. It’s amazing how good this is for the price.
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Olivier Leflaive Les Setilles was one of my three go-to recommendations when friends asked me for a balanced sub-$30 chardonnay that’s not doused with oak or in battery acid territory. Wasn’t so long ago you could find it for under $20 but looks like the current W-S low is now $29.99.
The other two were Heitz Cellar’s Napa Chardonnay, which is no longer made since the ownership change (or rather, they turned it into a single vineyard offering and jacked up prices by x4), and Domaine de Montille’s Clos du Chateau which I believe is sourced from a parcel that borders AOC Puligny-Montrachet. I reckon that wine could compete with most other producers’ Puligny village wine at twice its own price if not for its humble AOC Bourgogne designation, although it too has fallen victim to Burgundy inflation and now sells in the $40 range.
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Good points. I tried the Heitz Napa chard a few times (it was getting blown out at Costco) but thought it a touch lean for my preferences. I think their whole new biz model is something I can pass on too.
As the way original (and departed) OP notes, I too get a diminishing return to higher priced expressions of this varietal. I suppose it could also be our consumption patters for whites in the household, usually being quaffed while cooking, by the pool, and so on. Not really savored or enjoyed the way reds are.
Lots of great QPR in the Willamette Valley. Check it out: https://www.wineberserkers.com/t/all-things-oregon-chardonnay/297720
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