I will say that I have come to American Chrdonnay late in my wine journey. Early drinking of Chardonnay was white Burgundy - usually from the bargain bins at Zachy’s - long before I got priced out of Burgundy, in general.
After going down the rabbit hole chasing West Coast Pinot Noir, I started exploring chardonnays and found I much enjoyed the high acid, fresh, and crips chardonnays from the West Coast.
Consider Sandar & Hem (Santa Cruz Mountains) to add to your “list to try.”
I’m definitely biased, but for my palate Oregon takes the cake. I’ve got a few on my list from Cali, but I find that a lot of Cali chards have a riper fruit profile and less tension when they are put toe to toe with the top chards in the Willamette. Even those from Sta. Rita Hills.
Walter Scott
Morgen Long
X Novo Vineyards
00 Wines
Lingua Franca
Abbott Claim
Antica Terra
Evening Land
Ceritas
Raciness
Side note - I find there are too many people in both Cali and Oregon that try to copy the Dauvissat / Raveneau formula of fermenting in stainless and racking to neutral oak. I find that this technique often doesn’t deliver great wines when you don’t have the Chablis terroir to provide that mineral spine. Most Chardonnay benefits from at least a little high quality French oak.
I’ve had Montelena Chardonnay in numerous vintages, I find it consistently fine. If it’s not too confusing, it’s New World fruit treated in an Old World style. IIRC it never goes through malo and in part for that reason is very ageworthy… probably usually peaks at 10 years of age and can go much longer. Early Parker reviews were positive but muted, as the relatively high acid and low pH were different from the rich style Parker preferred. It’s also reasonably priced.
I second the motion for Ritchie vineyard. Ramey’s is a wonderful wine year. after year. One challenge with this ranking method is that some producers on the list make one or two chards, others make at least a half- dozen different cuvees. We should probably be ranking vineyards and producers separately. Ritchie would be in my top three vineyards, along with Mount Eden Estate and Marcassin Estate.
I love this. ‘Top 10’ and we have about 100 listed, most of which deserve mention in such a list.
A poll might be fun, but with parameters outlining how to define ‘top’, if it’s only one’s preferred style, if it’s legendary history, if it’s exclusive, etc
Yeah, that’s why Top (arbitrary number) lists are stupid. If you define parameters for a top echelon, what are the odds those that meet the standards equal the arbitrary number? If it’s fewer, you’re rounding out the list with names that don’t deserve it. If it’s more, you’re neglecting names who do deserve it “just because”.
Of course there’s the popularity contest aspect. Most people nominating their favorites haven’t tasted most of the wines others have listed. Preference us subjective. I’m sure there are many more flaws to the endeavor. But, the fact there are so many producers listed that people think are world-class is not a bad thing.
It’s a race to the bottom
First person posts Mickey Mantle and soon enough someone else posts Mickey Rivers as all the other names have already been mentioned
