The holiday season is upon us, and it absolutely is the best time of the year, bringing friends and family together in celebration. And with the seasonal gatherings comes a gift exchange. Red wines are always popular for gifting during the holidays, as a bold Cabernet Sauvignon and earthy Pinot Noir pair well with the Christmas goose or crown roast. Still, the gift-giving should not be limited to red wines, as a quality Chardonnay with character, texture, and richness will also make the perfect holiday gift this year. Here are a few that are sure to please any recipient, even yourself.

Showcasing the perfect combination of creamy richness with fruit-forward flavors, Cuvaison Hedon Chardonnay is a full-bodied, well-rounded wine with character. Hedon is the type of wine you drink on a cold night in the middle of winter to warm you from the inside out. Produced from fruit grown on Cuvaison’s Los Carneros estate, the cool-climate wine is 100% barrel fermented and aged 18 months on the lees (yeasts), which adds texture and creaminess, coating the palate with layers of honeycomb, lemon custard, golden apple, melon, and hazelnut.

Nestled only a handful of miles from the Pacific Ocean in Edna Valley, Tolosa Winery’s Poletti Vineyard enjoys constant, cooling Ocean breezes throughout the day, keeping delicate fruit cool and healthy. It is also an area of the Valley that receives a high amount of sun exposure. The combination creates refrigerated sunshine, producing well-ripened fruit that maintains freshness and acidity, as displayed in Tolosa Poletti-Edna Valley Chardonnay. The wine opens with aromas of honeysuckle and white flowers, followed by layers of ripe pear, apples, and stone fruit, and finishing with a layer of creamy honey.

From fruit grown in the Hudson Vineyard within the Los Carneros AVA, Odette Reserve Chardonnay reveals exuberant energy on the palate as the Wente clone Chardonnay fruit has a gorgeous freshness that melds with ripe fruit-forward layers of stone fruit and orchard fruit. The barrel-fermented wine ages on the less for 16 months, adding yeasty richness with notes of fresh brioche, hazelnut, and marzipan melding with the wine’s natural fruit-forward flavors.

Moone-Tsai Winery showcases the cooling influence of the Pacific Ocean and the Russian River in its Sonoma Coast Chardonnay featuring gorgeous Charles Heitz Vineyard fruit. The 30-year-old vineyard’s proximity to the water provides a luscious freshness in the appealing wine that marries classic Chardonnay fruit flavors with crushed stone mineral notes enhanced by the vineyard’s sandy loam Gold Ridge soils. The vines dig deep into the earth to find nutrients, creating well-rounded fruit that has concentration and structure, elegance and refinement, and a lengthy, lingering finish.

Blending Chardonnay fruit grown in cool Carneros and warmer St. Helena, Plumpjack Reserve Chardonnay displays a multitude of layers, textures, and characteristics. The wine displays tropical, orchard, and stone fruit flavors influenced by the mix of microclimates in which the fruit is grown. The Chardonnay layers lemon curd, lychee, ripe pear, apricot, and spiced baked apple. The palate is lengthy and rich, with a creaminess that melds with freshness, keeping the wine balanced, with its appealing character requiring you to enjoy sip after sip.

Flora Springs matriarch, mother, and grandmother, Flora Cabral Komes lived by the belief that if you love the land, it will love you back. Her dedication to taking care of the environment through sustainable farming methods helped Napa Valley’s Flora Springs Winery become one of the region’s leading wine producers, particularly for its exceptional Chardonnay wines. Flora Springs “Flora’s Legacy” Chardonnay honors Flora Cabral Komes and her legacy. Each year the Komes family comes together to create the limited-production wine from the best Chardonnay fruit of the vintage. The barrel selection Chardonnay is beautifully structured, with concentration and a lengthy, lingering texture on the well-defined palate. Aromas of apple blossom, honeysuckle, and golden citrus lead to stone fruit, fresh cream, lemon custard, and creamy honeycomb flavors that finish with notes of toasted spice, vanilla, and oak.

MacRostie “The Key” Chardonnay is a sophisticated, expressive, and wonderfully exceptional representation of Sonoma Coast-grown Chardonnay. The wine has energy and vibrancy that melds with toasted spice, fresh cream, and orchard fruits. The region’s long growing season ensures delicate fruit ripens slowly and evenly, ensuring the wine has balance, while French oak aging adds toasted spice and earthy cedar notes to the lemon blossom, golden apple, peach, and pear notes of the wine.

Bacigalupi Vineyards in the Russian River Valley has been producing world-class fruit for generations. A block of the vineyard’s fruit was sold to Chateau Montelena in the early 1970s and was included in the award-winning Chardonnay in the 1976 Judgement of Paris that put California wines on the map. Today, the winery’s Renouveau Paris Tasting Chardonnay from that vineyard block continues the legacy of founders Charles and Helen Bacigalupi and their desire to deliver premium fruit from the Russian River Valley. The old vine, low-yielding Chardonnay vineyard creates incredibly concentrated, textured fruit, creating an unctuous wine that layers white peach, honeydew, lemon curd, and golden apple. The small-production wine ages for 19 months in new and neutral French oak, adding toasted almond, warm baking spice, and biscuit notes to the wine’s flavor profile. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered, allowing the essence of place to shine through in each sip.