The other night, a friend told me that she was having dinner with her friend Savvy B. It took me a moment, but then I realized that she meant Sauvignon Blanc, a shape-shifting grape from which the juice can be coaxed into flavors ranging from grapefruit and freshly cut grass to ripe tropical fruits.
Savvy B. isn’t an outlier. Unlike their red wine cousins, white wine varietals like Chardonnay, Riesling, and Chenin Blanc are happy to take direction from the winemaker and transform themselves into wines that are lean and zippy, rich and round, or somewhere in between.
The trick is not to get stuck thinking that white wine is a delicate flower best served at a ladies’ luncheon. “Drinking white wine is not limited to chicken and fish. It’s a full immersion revealing all the secrets of the heart, that is light, fruity, tart, crisp, aromatic, and expressive,” says Sherrie Lee-McCallum, sommelier at Half Moon, a Salamander Collection resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. “The different white wine flavor profiles are a journey for your palate as they are a tour around the world that is elegant, graceful, and full of surprises that move and astonish — just like every sip of Chardonnay sipped with a nice morsel of a juicy steak, hot off the grill.”
Not sure where to start? Here are our top picks.
Palmaz 2022 Amalia Chardonnay
Mountains are vital to a vineyard, creating the microclimates that shape the taste and texture of the finished product. Palmaz Vineyards, which is located on Napa Valley’s Mount George utilizes the inside of the mountain as well. Instead of being pushed through filters and into bottles, the 18-story, gravity-flow winery, which is located inside the mountain, utilizes the natural pull of gravity to gently guide the wine from crush to bottle. The result? Delicate flavors and aromas don’t get lost in the shuffle. The 2022 Amalia Chardonnay, which is named for co-owner (and Chardonnay lover) Amalia Palmaz, is a perfect example of this theory at work: flavors of perfectly ripe fall fruits, warm honey, and roasted nuts add lovely complexity to this already expressive wine.
The Hilt 2023 Bentrock Chardonnay
Try to grow tomatoes or roses or gardenias and you’re in for a lot of work: they need to be watered at the right time of day, fed on schedule, and protected from specific weather elements. Wine grapes are the opposite. Make them work — for water, for food — and you’ll be rewarded with lower yields but more interesting fruit. With its organically poor soil, harsh winds, and cool temperatures, The Hilt’s Bentrock Vineyard would kill most plants, but not grape vines. Instead, they produce a Chardonnay that’s ripe but with an incredibly light center that almost forces you to take another sip. Though it’s filled with all the deep Chardonnay flavors you love, a light scattering of meadow herbs — mint, lemongrass, orange balm — bring the taste alive.
Inama 2022 I Palchi Foscarino Soave
I’ve loved wines from Soave for a long time. Years ago, it was the most interesting choice in my price range, flavorful but fresh against the over-oaked Chardonnays I could afford. I buy better wine now, and I’m thrilled that the Inama family has created a Soave for my more experienced palate. Named for the terraces that surround Mount Foscarino, I Palchi is fresh and vibrant, but, with its deep, almost ashy minerality, clearly from volcanic soil. It opens beautifully, too, with nectarine, citrus, and mouth-watering salinity working their magic to provide focused depth; aromas of honeydew melon rind and spring flowers arrived as the wine warmed a bit.
Lynmar 2023 Adam’s Vineyard Chardonnay
It’s easy to see why Sonoma’s Russian River Valley is a prime region for growing Chardonnay: warm days let the grapes ripen and develop their beautiful flavors; cool nights keep sugar levels from going through the roof. On Lynmar’s 100-acre estate, Adam’s Vineyard is tiny — just two acres. It’s the warmest, too. But this being Sonoma, that extra surge of warmth can be a good thing, particularly in 2023, which had a rainy beginning followed by a fall so mild that grapes were harvested later than usual. Lynmar Adam’s Vineyard Chardonnay benefitted from this pre-global-warming weather with elegance and grace: citrus flavors are delectably soft — think lemon peel with a whisper-thin glaze of honey — but with structure and acidity that keeps things interesting.
Stag’s Leap 2024 Arcadia Chardonnay
A crazy thing occurred in the wine world in 1976: 20 wines from France and California, 10 red and 10 white, were tasted blind and rated by a panel of wine professionals. In both cases, the top scores went to American wines: the 1973 Stag’s Leap Cabernet and the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. Stag’s Leap waited until 1998 to produce Chardonnay, but when it did, it sourced fruit from the Arcadia Vineyard, which is located in Coombsville, a cooler Napa sub-AVA. With the 2024 release, winemakers showed their skills: though the weather was hot, the wine is bright with the flavors of tiny cherry plums, nectarines, and mango. Even better, with an ABV of 13.5%, I could sip it all night long. Try it with Stilton.
Rhys 2023 Mt. Pajaro Chardonnay
Long before he started Rhys Vineyards, venture capitalist Kevin Harvey was a guy who loved wine. So he decided to make his own. He started by learning everything he could about the soil. Next, he planted vines in his backyard. Then he began to search California for areas with coastal mountains, cool temperatures, and the rocky soil that produces the kind of Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, and Syrahs he adored. He established Rhys Vineyards in 2004; the winery’s first vintage came, in part, from the original backyard vines. Today, Rhys produces wines from eight diverse vineyards; Mt. Pajaro Vineyard covers 18 acres and was once an apple orchard. The 2023 Chardonnay is generous but not overstuffed — I loved the mosaic of lychee, mango, and flinty minerality that danced around my mouth.
Littorai 2024 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay
It’s said that in good years, even a bad winemaker can produce delicious wine. But toss in complications, like 2024’s temperature spikes and early fall heat wave, and a vigneron’s skill is put to the test. Ted Lemon, who, with his wife Heidi, own Littorai Wines in Sonoma, passes with flying colors. Blended from grapes sourced from three vineyards that the Lemons farm organically and biodynamically, the winery’s 2024 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay opens with a bit of beeswax before presenting layers of ripe quince and freshly cut peach infused with subtle whispers of spice. Acid hovers in the background, offering versatility that will take you through the evening.
Livio Felluga 2022 Terra Alte
There are days when I need to curl up with a glass of wine that’s as familiar as the food I’m eating and the Law & Order rerun that will accompany it. But other nights, when something interesting catches my eye at the market or I’m feeling creative, I get super stoked to open something different. In these cases, Livio Felluga’s lively, aromatic blend of Friulano, Pinot Bianco, and Sauvignon Blanc is just the ticket. The first sip balanced ripe fruit, herbs, and zesty salinity on a knife’s edge; as the glass turned into a bottle, the wine’s silky texture wrapped everything a sueded gloss.
To buy: wine.com
Quinta Nova 2023 Mirabilis
Opening a bottle of Portuguese wine is a one-of-a-kind wine adventure. Why? If you’re like me and aren’t super familiar with the 250 varietals grown on the country’s curved wine terraces, that first sip arrives without the preconceived notions of what it might taste like. It’s freeing and fun. Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo is one of the oldest wine estates in the Douro Valley; it was purchased by the Amorim family in 1999. Blended primarily from Viosinho and Gouveio, Mirabilis is the brainchild of current CEO Luisa Amorim, who created it with white Burgundy in mind. Tropical fruits warmed from the sun, but enlivened with a citrusy twist got the wine off to a delectable start; graham cracker and well-integrated oak contributed depth and weight.
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