Raising a glass of Chardonnay is welcome any evening in our home, especially when they come with the provenance and quality of our five feature selections today. Each shines as an ideal example of why Chardonnay remains one of America’s most popular white wines. When crafted with intention and care, the luscious white variety is remarkable. #Cheers

Benovia Vineyards and Winery‘s Martaella Vineyard Chardonnay comes from the winery’s home estate within the Laguna de Santa Rosa in the Russian River Valley AVA. The vineyard’s name honors the mothers of Benovia’s owners, Joe Anderson and Mary Dewayne. The hand-harvested fruit is a whole cluster pressed before fermenting in French oak with native yeast and aging for 13 months in the barrel. This is a wine that is easy to get lost in. The wine has a luscious concentration, with structure and balance, showing ripe stone fruits, juicy citrus, lemon curd, and ripe melon. The wine’s richness is kept in balance by the fruit’s natural fresh acidity, inviting you to enjoy more than one sip.

From Central California’s Sta. Rita Hills region, Sea Smoke Chardonnay shines as an example of why terroir matters in winemaking. From organic and biodynamically farmed hillside vineyards situated not far from the Pacific Ocean, where grapes enjoy gentle sea breezes and foggy evenings, keeping vines cool and grapes fresh. The area’s microclimate provides a long, slowly-paced growing season that produces complex, well-structured fruit that creates luscious, textured wine. The wine ages 10 months in partially new French oak, enhancing the complexity and delivering a white wine with layers of ripe orchard fruit, melon, white flowers, and hazelnut.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Landmark Vineyards honors its late founder,  Damaris Deere Ford, with its latest bottling of the Damaris Reserve Chardonnay from Sonoma County. The wine has been a part of the Landmark portfolio since 1988. However, this year marks the launch of a new label design crafted with Ford’s influence and ever-present style in mind. She passed in 2023. The wine blends fruit from Petaluma Gap and cool Carneros, highly influenced by cooling breezes off the San Pablo Bay, ensuring freshness is retained in sun-ripened fruit. The wine opens with lively aromas of tropical mango, honeysuckle, and stone fruit, followed by ripe pear, apple, and apricot layers. The French oak barrel fermentation and aging for 14 months adds hints of toasted spice and creme brulee.

From volcanic Jory soils in Willamette Valley’s Dundee Hills AVA, Stoller Dundee Hills Estate Chardonnay captures what farming in low-yielding, iron-rich, mineral-intense soils gives to wine, elevating its overall character. The B Corp Certified, LIVE Certified Sustainable winery ferments the wine in concrete vessels before aging for a brief eight months in stainless steel, ensuring the authenticity of character in the vibrant, elegant wine. The Chardonnay opens with honeysuckle, jasmine, and ripe melon, followed by peaches, apples, and crushed stone on the palate with a lean mineral-rich core.

MacRostie Nightwine Vineyard Chardonnay showcases the Petaluma Gap’s cool climate, growing conditions, and high elevation with a vibrant, energetic, and juicy expression of the variety. The certified sustainable estate vineyard’s fruit was whole cluster pressed, fermented in partially new French oak barrels,  and aged for 10 months, developing richness and texture. The wine shows white flowers, soft herbs, and stone fruit aromas that lead to a luscious palate of nectarine, apricot, and fresh cream with wet stone and warm spice.