American Chardonnay: The top bottles worth seeking out

The statistics don’t lie: people everywhere still love to drink Chardonnay. And across the wine-growing states of the US, you’ll find a spectacular diversity of styles. Make a beeline for more than 50 delicious picks from California and beyond.

By Anna Lee Iijima

last updated 20 September 2023

in Tastings

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American Chardonnay — (Image credit: Credit Unknown)

Chardonnay’s unique appeal lies in a certain blank-canvas malleability. At its core, it’s a wine of transparency, a mirror to terroir and the brushstrokes of a winemaker’s technique. In the US, however, its hallmark style – big, buttery Californiaesque wines plump with tropical fruit and new-oak flavours – is subject to nearly as much scorn as adoration.

Yet Chardonnay is America’s most popular white wine among consumers by far, its market share exceeding 15%, according to Silicon Valley Bank’s 2023 State of the US Wine Industry report, with Pinot Grigio following at just above 8% (SipSource data to September 2022).

Despite its enduring popularity, the basic prototype of the American Chard historically capitalised on a cheerful yet generic expression of place and fabrication. The most commercially successful American Chardonnays are sun-soaked yet ubiquitous wines that are largely replicable wherever sufficient ripeness can be achieved. But, looking behind the shadow of America’s big-brand Chardonnay, you’ll find an entirely different landscape of diverse, impactful Chardonnay has flourished.

If it’s been a while since you’ve taken a good, long look at American Chardonnay, things will not be how they were even a decade ago. Overwhelmingly, wines are sharper these days. A few pounds lighter and less reliant on make-up, they’re digging increasingly inwards, not outwards, for inspiration. Soil and site-driven, America’s most dynamic Chardonnays are keen, often hyperspecific expressions of this country’s remarkable diversity.

California is still the touchstone of American Chardonnay. But it’s also home to some of the most thrillingly divergent expressions of the variety. Tasted blind, they can be enigmatic puzzles of topography, exposition, climate and soil. The electric Chardonnay coaxed from wind-blasted pockets of the Santa Rita Hills couldn’t be more different from the rich, earthen Chards of old, low-yield vines atop the Santa Cruz Mountains.

In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, a cool-climate region where the Pacific ocean tempers long, dry growing seasons and rainy winters, comparisons to Burgundy are increasingly difficult to avoid. Oregon is a hotbed for the Burgundian grape varieties and home to increasing numbers of high-profile transplants from Drouhin, Jadot, MéoCamuzet and more. ‘No one’s interested in making facsimiles of Burgundy,’ says Sashi Moorman, the California winemaker who, with business partner Raj Parr, owns and operates Evening Land Vineyards in the Eola-Amity Hills. But there’s no denying, Moorman says, that Burgundian traditions have served as a ‘north star’ in crafting complex, ageworthy, nuanced wines in Oregon.

On the east coast, New York State, particularly the Finger Lakes, is a standout region for Chardonnay of increasing subtlety and nuance. It’s also one of the few regions remaining where physiologically ripe, flavourful Chardonnay can be produced with high natural acidity and alcohol hovering below the 13% mark, suggests winemaker Nathan Kendall, who produces Chardonnay for his Nathan K and Hickory Hollow brands.

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Anna Lee Iijima is a Japanese and American journalist and wine critic based in New York City. For 13 years she was the contributing editor for Germany, the Rhône Valley, Burgundy and New York for Wine Enthusiast Magazine. In addition to Decanter, she writes frequently for the Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Food & Wine Magazine, among other publications. Anna Lee holds a WSET Diploma as well as a certification in Viticulture and Vinification from the American Sommelier Association. She is a certified sake professional of the Sake Education Council and a senior judge for the International Wine Challenge Sake Competition. In a previous life Anna Lee was a corporate lawyer.

American Chardonnay: The top bottles worth seeking out

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Across the nation

See all 57 of Anna Lee Iijima’s American Chardonnay recommendations

30 top American Chardonnays to try

00 Wines, VGW Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2019

Kistler Vineyards, Les Noisetiers Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, California, USA 2021

Walter Scott, Cuvée Anne Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2019

Evening Land, Summum Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2021

Hanzell Vineyards, Heritage Chardonnay, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County, California, USA 2021

Liquid Farm, White Hill Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California, USA 2021

Mount Eden Vineyards, Estate Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA 2019

Thomas Fogarty, Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA 2019

Sandhi, Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County, California, USA 2021

Failla, Olivet Ranch Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA 2020

Trestle 31, Chardonnay, Finger Lakes, New York State, USA 2020

Lioco, Estero Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA 2020

Nicolas-Jay, Affinités Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2021

Arnot-Roberts, Trout Gulch Vineyard Chardonnay, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA 2021

Ponzi Vineyards, Alloro Chardonnay, Chehalem Mountains, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2019

Lioco, Skycrest Chardonnay, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, California, USA 2020

Domaine Drouhin Oregon, Arthur Chardonnay, Dundee Hills, Oregon, USA 2021

Beaux Frères, Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2020

Massican, Hyde Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California, USA 2021

Matthiasson, Linda Vista Vineyard Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California, USA 2021

Ramey, Fort Ross - Seaview Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, California, USA 2020

Bergström, Old Stones Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2020

Forge Cellars, Caywood Chardonnay, Finger Lakes, New York State, USA 2021

Gran Moraine, Chardonnay, Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA 2019

Chateau Montelena, Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California, USA 2020

Nathan K, Chardonnay, Finger Lakes, New York State, USA 2020

Savage Grace, Celilo Vineyard Chardonnay, Columbia Gorge, Washington, USA 2017

Abeja, Chardonnay, Washington, USA 2021

Ravines, Chardonnay, Finger Lakes, New York State, USA 2020