Indeed, and I said as much. But those wines are a pretty extreme departure for “a French zealot of white Burgundy.”
Maybe if those were part of a tasting of several bottles, which included ones like Kutch or Tyler with more of a Burgundy spirit to them, so it showcased the range?
Just a thought. The OP should have the best sense of what he’s trying to show his friend, and he can choose wines accordingly.
If I understood Herwig and Andy, this is not what they’re saying, at least about Aubert. It was more like 20% of Aubert bottles are indistinguishable from White Burgundy. I think some other people have said similar things about some Ramey bottlings and maybe other producers.
For my part, Walter Scott X-Novo is indeed like White Burgundy, but I’ve never been convinced that it’s at all that high a level. I think you could get a PYCM BB or lower level St. Aubin and have a similar experience for similar or lower price.
We recently had one of the Ceritas bottlings and I believe everyone who tasted it thought it was White Burg. It was quite good, but again I’m not sure it is better than similarly priced White Burgundies. I think we all thought it was Chablis and there’s a whole bunch of good Chablis for fairly reasonable prices.
The one that intrigues me the most is Rhys. I can’t pick out any particular producer or area in Burgundy and say Rhys is like that, but the bottles I’ve had most recently have consistently been some of the best US Chardonnays I’ve had, and a lot of their qualities are similar to White Burgundy. These are primarily Alpine and Horseshoe. FWIW I stopped buying Rhys a few years ago because I didn’t value the red wines at the level of their pricing.
Have you tried Kutch chardonnays? At $39 and $49, they are very high quality and compete favorably on price compared to comparable
Burgs.
Late to the game here. With the caveat that this is not a category where I have tasted widely I’d heartily recommend Rhys and Goodfellow.
Thanks man, went back to edit my post 
Seth Long is seven feet tall. Kills men by the hundreds. And if HE were here, he’d make chardonnay with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse.
Last night We had the 2018 Walter Scott X-Novo and 2018 Boillot Mouchere blind and they were virtually indistinguishable. We also had the 2018 Goodfellow Whistling Ridge (not blind) and it was an equal to the other two. No doubt.
I’ve been frustrated with Ridge Chardonnay as a whole
Todd I have stopped buying Ridge Chards for the most part. I don’t dislike them but as many have mentioned I would rather drink Mount Eden.
Deleted.
Yesterday , with my wine club ( 9 tasters ) , I served a Walter Scott 2018 Chardonnay Seven Springs blind . Everybody loved it ( I scored it 95/100 ) and only 2 tasters said that the wine came from the US .
A delicious discovery for us , as we did not know Walter Scott wines .
Posting this TN here. . .
TN: 2016 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay Estate Grown Napa Valley
Mike Grgich made the 1973 Chardonnay for Chateau Montelana that won the 1976 Judgement of Paris. Very nice, Mike, but what has Grgich done for us lately. Well they made a very nice Napa Valley Estate Chardonnay. This particular wine had the both of us at hello with an added direct demand from the wine to take it seriously. Lemon, salty minerality, apple/pear fruit and a taste-whiff of oak. The fruit reminded (oddly) me of a poire eau-de-vie that I tasted many years ago, but this Chardonnay is lightyears more pleasant. Impeccable balance! My wife uttered “nice” too many times to count . . . yeah, Jacqueline, I get it. But seriously this is a fine wine. Among the best Chardonnay this old/odd fellow has tasted. Highly recommended.
Ramey Hyde is an all-time favorite. Blind tasted the Domaine De La Cote Juliet 2014 and all mistook it for Burgundy. Very mineral driven and elegant. The Juliet and the Etienne Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Les Combettes 2014 are the two best Chardonnays that I have had within the last year.
Goodfellow, especially from Whistling Ridge (Richard’s Cuvée, if you can get it).
Kutch and Walter Scott xo are in same style but not burgundy. I find Peter Michael, Aubert and Kistler are all good white wines but not in a burgundy style.
Mayacamas
Goodfellow Richard‘s Cuvee for sure
Seth Long‘s Seven Springs with a crapton of air
Rhys’s “Horseshoe” or “Alpine” — can be a bit vintage-dependent.
I’d throw the bottle of Ladd - “Cuvee Voile” that I recently had into the mix, too.
Lots of great ones mentioned, agree with Kistler, Ramey, Ceritas. One not mention is Fairchild/Stones 2017 was a knockout!
Around the year 1999 I was selling wine to the french. We did two tastings in Paris for Au Bon Climat and Saintsbury. Fir the first, they could see the labels and thought the wines sucked. Fir the second tasting, we threw in some ringers and served blind. They got very confused when they discovered they liked the California wine better than the french.
Very impressed with the Lingua Franca and my takeaway re Mersault as well.