+1 on Rombauer
Wente is cheaper, but similar.
Morgan from Monterey is another good one.

Like any other grape or wine, I wouldn't want it every day but it is nice every so often to open up a butter ball bottle of Chard.

Thanks Kevin (Todd) that was interesting.

No kidding.....

In case it was not obvious, what I meant was that, since he described his taste preference in red wine as "fruity", I thought he might want to try a Chardonnay that is not buttery. Thus my recommendation...

JR

Shards is definitely back. Less oaked, less buttery and less blech. In fact, this summer Ive enjoyed a few very unusual and very interesting - tight and austere- Chardonnays.

But I still think the best way to drink chardonnay is out of a Champagne bottle...

Sorry, I read your comment incorrectly. Apologies.

For fruit, Sancerre would be an interesting choice since it has tropical fruits.

And every bite is like your first bite!

Wine is so much fun!

Don't know much about chards but had a locally grown chard years ago that tasted like caramel. don't suspect that would be considered for a mature palette.

This is an excellent point. If you find one you like, look at a map. I like a lot of wines out of Alexander Valley, it turns out. I have had some decent wine from Lodi, of all places too, so you never can tell. Sometimes right across the street is also up the hill, which can make a big difference too.

Forgot about Phelps, nice people there. The ones at Mondavi were not nearly as friendly. I know it sounds stupid, but I have been to a LOT of places in Napa and Sonoma valleys, wine tasting. Almost invariably the folks are very nice. If they are not, I won't drink their wine. Had some red wine at Duckhorn that was stellar, but the snooty beeyatch put me off so much we left with nothing

I'm not sure that the behaviour of one employee in a tasting room would prevent me from buying a wine that I found to be good. Maybe not fair to the winery...

The comment about the map brings up a point another point. There are so damn many wineries in California now that I would find it hard to have any idea of what to expect when picking a single bottle of a California Chardonnay out of a liquor store. It's almost a crap shoot. There are good wines and also wines so poor that they are outclassed by some wine in a box.

On the other hand, I rarely find a bottle of wine from Burgundy that I don't like, so maybe they are more consistent or nobody bothers to import poor quality wines from that area. Beats me... Anyway, one advantage is that Burgundy wine classifications are geographically-focused so you know where the wine comes from. If you like a wine from a particular area, you can easily find another wine from that area, as it's as simple as reading the label.

JR

Malolactic fermentation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This method gets the butter in the Chard.

^^^Agree completely.

Keep trying until you find what you like. There are so many variables in wine making you never know what you'll find. Winemaking is as much an art as it is a science. At least that’s what the wineries that buy our fruit tell us. :eek:

It's pronounced kar-don-ay.....