The 2021 vintage marks the inaugural release of RAEN Winery’s Lady Marjorie Chardonnay Cuvee. This bottling is a blend of two vineyard sites in one of California’s most prestigious regions for chardonnay: Fort Ross-Seaview. RAEN describes this bottle as having “elegance, finesse, and verve.”

Maison Areion creates small-production California wines in the style of Burgundy and Bordeaux. Fourth-generation winemaker Nicolas Vonderheyden works with mountain fruit from a petite, family-owned vineyard in one of California’s most underappreciated appellations, the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA.

When it comes to a white wine that’s perfect for everyday drinking, a nice Albariño is hard to beat. When most wine drinkers think of this plucky green-skinned grape, they think of Spain or Portugal. But Albariño is getting a toehold in another part of the world, Uruguay.

The 2020 Famille Savary Chablis was imported by the legendary Kermit Lynch, who is regarded as one of the most prominent importers of French and Italian wine in the US. If you’re ever shopping for wine and you see ‘imported by Kermit Lynch’ on the back of the bottle, there’s a good chance it’s an interesting wine.

Cakebread Cellars is a second-generation Napa Valley winery known for its Chardonnays and Cabernets. Jack and Dolores Cakebread became stitched into the fabric of Napa Valley’s 1970s Renaissance when they purchased a small plot of land on a whim and turned it into something magical.

This single-vineyard wine is a classic chardonnay with a gorgeous gold-yellow color and medium legs. On the nose, we picked up hints of lemon, apple, a little peach, honeydew, and very slight stoniness. On the palate, we get hints of green apple, lemon, pink grapefruit, and honeydew, and Brett swears he tastes some pineapple (Tina was not so sure).

But, what many wine drinkers don’t realize is that Beajolais also produces a small amount of Chardonnay – we’re talking between 1 – 2% of the region. For comparison’s sake, its sister region, Burgundy, produces roughly 60% white wine, 34% red wine, and 6% cremant.