By The Daily Meal
Each year the panel of experts at The Daily Meal ranks the top wine producers not just from California but from 14 states in all, from Washington to Virginia.
101 can seem a lot to read through, so we picked a few of our favorites for you! So enjoy, and Happy Exploring!
Click the link above for the full article.
84. Talley Vineyards, Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Third-generation farmer Brian Talley has run Talley since the winery was built in 1991, focusing on chardonnay and pinot noir from the Talley family’s own vineyards. The pinot noir and chardonnay from the Talley estate vineyards — and especially the single-vineyard bottlings from their Rosemary’s and Rincon plots — are consistently among their most desired and highly acclaimed offerings. “If any winery and family embodies what’s good about family winemaking,” chef–restaurateur Norman Van Aken once told us, “it’s the Talleys. Farming rests in the fibers of their being, and their gorgeous wines provide the backbone of theArroyo Grande Valley.”
73. Robert Mondavi Winery, St. Helena, Calif.
The late Robert Mondavi was one of the most important figures in the entirehistory of California winemaking — responsible more than anyone else for puttingthe Napa Valley on the map through the quality of his wines, his technologicalinnovations, and his marketing savvy. When he sold his eponymous winery in2004, four years before his death, to Constellation Brands (whose otherproperties range from New York’s Manischewitz winery to Corona beer) for areported $1 billion, some Mondavi fans feared that quality would plummet.Constellation, however, has remained true to the winery’s legacy as a premiumproducer of a wide range of cabernet sauvignons, chardonnays, and other finewines — including the landmark fumé blanc, a wine style invented for Californiaby Mondavi himself.
63. Ponzi Vineyards, Sherwood, Ore.
“Dick Ponzi founded the Ponzi winery in the Willamette Valley in 1970 when therewere only three or four other wineries there,” Daniel Johannes, corporate winedirector for Daniel Boulud’s New York-based Dinex Group, told us last year. “Atrue pioneer, he opened the door to introduce Oregon as one of the premierpinot noir producing regions of the world.” In addition to half dozen beautifullyblended, intense, and remarkably consistent pinot noirs, ranging from the budget-friendly Tavola to stunning reserve blends, second-generation winemaker LuisaPonzi (the first American woman to receive a prestigious enology and viniculturecertificate from Beaune, France) also creates an impressive range of white wines,including chardonnay, pinot gris, pinot blanc, arneis, and riesling.
62. Gruet Winery, Albuquerque, N.M.
The Gruet family had already been producing produced Champagne in Bethon,near Épernay, for 30 years when they first visited the American Southwest in the1980s. To their surprise, they discovered chardonnay and pinot noir vines being cultivated successfully at high altitude about 150 miles south of Albuquerque. They planted their own vines and began making sparkling wines in the classicmethode traditionelle, relying on the low humidity to prevent rot, and the cool nights at 4,300 feet above sea level to slow ripening of the grapes for greatest complexity. The results have been wonderful. Today, Gruet produces a range of what Sacramento grocer and wine and food expert Darrell Corti calls “splendid sparklers,” both vintage and non-vintage, including an ethereal rosé, fairly priced and reminiscent of wines made back home in the Champagne region.
60. Chehalem Winery, Newberg, Ore.
Sustainability is the watchword here. The winery is LIVE (Low Input Viticulture andEnology) certified and part of Oregon’s Carbon Neutral Challenge Initiative; a lengthy sustainability statement on their website outlines many other “green”programs they are participating in. All very well and good, but how are the wines?Vintage after vintage, some of the very best from the Willamette Valley. Their Stoller Vineyards pinot noir (one of a number of their expressions of the grape) is wonderfully ripe, fresh, and chewy; their grüner veltliner is one of the very best American interpretations of that grape; their INOX (stainless steel) chardonnay isa pleasingly tart, lightly honeyed reminder of how good unoaked chardonnay can be.
53. Domaine Serene, Dayton, Ore.
Founded in 1989 by Ken and Grace Evenstad, a couple of Burgundy-lovingMinnesotans transplanted to the Pacific Northwest, Domaine Serene was an early star in the Willamette Valley. Their mission is no less than to produce the best chardonnay and pinot noir in Oregon; they’ve got some stiff competition, but their wines routinely score 90+ points from all the major critics, and their 2008Grace Vineyard Pinot Noir was given 97 points by Wine Spectator, the highest score ever won by an Oregon pinot. Daily Meal contributor Andrew Chalk recently tasted the 2013 Evenstad Reserve Chardonnay and 2012 Evenstad Reserve PinotNoir; he found the chardonnay to have “bright acid, intense fruit flavors that are nonetheless not so ripe as to border on tropical fruit, solid phenolic backbone,and a long creamy and vanillin finish”; the pinot noir showed “finesse and elegance…[and] soft raspberry and strawberry fruit on top of a forest floor layer of herbal notes.” The winery also makes a rare example of white pinot noir calledCoeur Blanc that could ignite a fad for this delicious style.
52. Neyers Vineyards, St. Helena, Calif.
As national sales director for the celebrated Northern California wine importerKermit Lynch, Bruce Neyers is constantly exposed to some of the best wines of(among other places) Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Rhône, and he and his youngwinemaker, Tadeo Borchardt — hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as a“winemaker to watch” — make finely crafted wines in the traditional French style that play in the same league. Sourcing grapes from Napa (including the Neyers property), Sonoma, and the Central Coast, the winery produces, among other things, award-winning cabernets, serious chardonnays with moderated oak (the304 bottling is oak-free), a couple of elegant pinot noirs, an unusually complex grenache, and a bold carignan.
51. Swanson Vineyards, Rutherford, Calif.
Swanson describes one of their most popular and successful wines as “a cab-lover’s merlot.” For close to 30 years, the winery has indeed been producing merlot that has all the authority and structure of its sister grape. Some call it thebest merlot in Napa Valley, delicious upon release but also worth aging. That’s just the beginning of Swanson’s offerings, however. There’s the eloquent sauvignon blanc, the textbook Napa chardonnay, the sangiovese and zinfandeland petite sirah, the late-harvest sémillon and late-harvest chardonnay….Everything Swanson Vineyards does is handled with panache and grace.
36. Patz & Hall, Sonoma, Calif.
For more than 25 years, Patz & Hall has focused squarely on just chardonnay andpinot noir. Their portfolio contains a few cuvée-style offerings, but the lion’s share of what they do is single-vineyard wines. Most of their fruit comes from Napa or Sonoma, but one of their best-known pinots hails from the Pisoni Vineyard in theSanta Lucia Highlands. Their Hudson Vineyard chardonnay is regularly lauded as one of the best in its category. “Patz & Hall is distinctive among California wineries” offers chef-restaurateur Norman Van Aken, “in no small part because they were highlighting the individual terroir of select vineyard sites before anyone thought that was cool. Their wines are layered, complex, utterly pure, and perfectly in balance.”
30. Stony Hill Vineyard, St. Helena, Calif.
Stony Hill Vineyards founders Eleanor and Fred McCrae made a commitment back in the late 1940s to chardonnay, at a time when there were only about 200 acres of it planted around California. They were determined to make a fruity, non-malolactic, Burgundian-style wine, with just a hint of oak, and they succeeded,creating lovely, Chablis-style chardonnays that can actually spend time in a bottle without losing quality. They also became known for a very nice white riesling,back in the days when small California producers still bothered with that grape.Today, Stony Hill remains a family concern, run by the McCreas’ son and daughter-in- law, Peter and Willinda McCrea. In recent years, the winery has developed a reputation for rich but well-balanced cabernets, but the chardonnay remains the star. As “wine guy” Dan Davis of Commanders Palace in New Orleans puts it, it’s “possibly the most food-friendly wine in California, a dead ringer for Grand Cru Chablis, and it will age delicately for decades.”
25. Château Montelena Winery, Calistoga, Calif.
Chateau Montelena’s 1973 chardonnay bested four famous white Burgundies and five of its fellow Californians to win top honors in the legendary 1976 “Judgment of Paris,” pitting California chardonnays and cabernets against their counterparts from Burgundy and Bordeaux. The event had an electrifying effect on the international wine trade and earned the Golden State’s wines their first real respect in France and beyond. As wine educator and blogger Elizabeth Schneider has so eloquently put it, “That’s Montelena’s unbelievably positive and wonderful legacy — making California a legit wine region — and they continue the tradition today. Based in Calistoga at the northern end of Napa in a giant castle, the winery is owned by the Barrett family, who could be snobby and exclusive, but instead they are true wine lovers who chase quality, balance, and a lighter touch in their wines above all else. You won’t really find fruit bombs here or wines with alcohol levels off the charts. Just balanced, beautiful, spicy, flavorful reds and whites.”
22. Andrew Will Winery, Vashon, Wash.
Just 4,500 sought-after cases of wine emerge from this small winery located on Vashon Island, the largest island in Puget Sound. Award-winning winemakerAndrew Will impresses critics and connoisseurs with his gorgeous Bordeaux-style blends and single varietals, the fruit for which hails from carefully selected vineyards in Columbia Valley. His 2012 Sorella, 67 percent cabernet sauvignon, 20percent merlot, and 13 percent cabernet franc, reflects his art as a winemaker: it is a rich and elegant wine, with hints of smoke and spice; his Ciel de Cheval from the same vintage, half merlot and the rest cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, is attractively plummy, with a mineral edge. Both are superlative. A hard right turn towards the Rhône gives us Will’s anomalous Viognier, from the Lake Chelan region, full of its own brand of spice.
17. Dunn Vineyards, Angwin, Calif.
Photo by Dunn VineyardsRandy and Lori Dunn founded their winery in 1978,before the now-respected Howell Mountain AVA was even established. Dunn Vineyards is now a family affair, with the Dunns’ son Mike and daughter Kristina also contributing to the production of their two wines: their flagship HowellMountain cabernet sauvignon and a popular Napa Valley labeling that is about 85percent Howell Mountain fruit (both are packaged in bottles with a distinctive red wax seal). Dunn cabernets express restrained alcohol, powerful tannins, and excellent acidity, making them extremely long-lived and hard to get — but worth the search.
15. Shafer Vineyards, Napa, Calif.
Shafer’s first cabernet sauvignon, vintage 1978, trounced first-growth Bordeaux like Château Margaux and Château Latour in a blind tasting in Germany in 1993,and the vineyard has produced award-winning wines ever since. Business man turned vintner John Shafer brought his winemaker son, Doug, into the family business, and further enhanced the vineyard’s reputation by hiring gifted winemaker Elias Fernandez, whose relentless pursuit of perfection gave name to the vineyard’s 2009 Relentless, a yet-to- peak gorgeous blend of syrah and petite sirah. Shafer cabernets are distinguished by their velvety, supple tannins; the chardonnays are buttery, rich, and unmistakably Californian.
12. Caymus Vineyards, Rutherford, Calif.
Founded in the Napa Valley in 1971 by the Wagner family, Caymus is justly famous for, above all, its Napa Valley and flagship Special Selection cabernet sauvignons (the latter produced only in the best years). Chuck Wagner, son of winery founder Charlie Wagner, oversees winemaking for both, the latter of which twice earned recognition from Wine Spectator as “Top Wine of the Year”Award. (Caymus zinfandel is also a wine to be reckoned with, and the Wagners separately produce various wines under the Mer Soleil, Conundrum, RedSchooner, and Emmolo labels.) “Picture-perfect vintage-in and vintage-ou” notes chef-restaurateur Norman Van Aken, “the Wagner family’s wines have elevated the scope of what was even possible for American wineries, and forever changed and shaped the market’s love and appreciation for fine wine.” Wine writer AnneMontgomery, a Daily Meal contributor, simply describes Caymus as “unstoppable”
11. Turley Wine Cellars, St. Helena and Templeton, Calif.
Larry Turley’s blue-chip winery, with Tegan Passalacqua (whose Sand lands winery also appears on this list) as winemaker, produces a veritable panoply of zinfandels— two dozen or so different ones — from its facilities in the Napa Valley and onto Central Coast that are simply some of the best, most purely Californian red wines in the Golden State. Oh, and there’s a “white zinfandel” that’s much more Côtes de Provence than Sutter Home; a sexy white called White Coat, composed roussanne, grenache blanc, and a soupçon of vermentino and verdelho (the name is a reference to the fact that before getting into the wine business as a founding partner of Frog’s Leap Winery, Turley was an emergency room physician); a few rich cabernet sauvignons and petite sirahs; a light, lean cinsault;and a few other good things.
10. Robert Sinskey Vineyards, Napa, Calif.
A remarkable vineyard which combines award-winning wines with a stunning venue, Robert Sinskey Vineyards (or RSV, as it fashions itself) is not to be missed.Fully 100 percent of its grapes are certified organic, and winemaker Jeff Virnig prides himself on using soil-building and farming techniques, which protect the200 acres of vines located in the Stags Leap and Carneros areas of Napa Valley.Robert Sinskey produces California’s best pinot blanc and an extraordinary vin gris of pinot noir in addition to his cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, and various proprietary blends (among other wines); one of these is a pinot gris-based “enlightened wine” called Orgia, which Sinskey says provides “the initial impression of a white and the gravitas of a red.”
6. Heitz Cellar, St. Helena, Calif.
The late Joe Heitz was a pioneer of modern-day fine winemaking in the NapaValley. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy, who had little patience with self-styled wine experts and liked to affectionately tweak what he saw as the pretensions of his fellow winemakers. He also made some of the best wine California has ever seen. Heitz and his wife, Alice, bought their first plot of Napa Valley vineyard land in 1961 and three years later acquired a 160-acre vineyard in St. Helena, and made a handshake deal to source additional cabernet grapes from a plot in nearby Oakville that became known as Martha’s Vineyard — wine from which remains as one of the signal achievements of American winemaking. Besides his landmark cabernets, Heitz made fine wines from sauvignon blanc, chardonnay,and zinfandel, and championed a little-known Italian grape with strawberry-scented fruit called grignolino, from which he made both a delightful light-bodied red and a tasty rosé. Today, the Heitzes’ children, winemaker David Heitz and winery president Kathleen Heitz Myers, honor their father’s legacy and continue to produce wines of which every American wine-lover should be proud.
5. Quilceda Creek, Snohomish, Wash.
Founded in 1978, this is a winery with an impressive lineage: co-founder Alex Golitzin is the nephew of the late André Tchelistcheff, whose skills and devotion as longtime winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyards shaped the foundations of modern-day Californian wine. Wine is still a family passion: Golitzin’s son Paul took over the chief winemaker position in 1993. Quilceda Creek focuses exclusively on cabernet and cabernet blends, continuing to follow the advice of André Tchelistcheff, and this level of intensity has paid off: the wines earned a 100-pointParker score for a four-year stretch, and consistently rank in the high 90s.
4. Calera Wine, Hollister, Calif.
Think you know California pinot noir? Think again. The only winery located in theMount Harlan AVA on California’s Central Coast, Calera was one of the first modern-day wineries to plant pinot noir in the state, after winemaker Josh Jensen found a high-elevation, cool-climate location with soil rich in limestone. His pinotsshow Burgundian influences, balancing richness and elegance. Robert Parker, the most influential of wine critics, called Calera one of the most “compelling” pinot noir specialists “of not only the New World, but of Planet Earth.” With Chalone veteran Mike Waller as winemaker, Calera has also produced chardonnay, viognier, and aligoté at their 100-percent gravity-flow winery, and these are hardly to be ignored. John Tilson of The Underground Wine Letter salutes the winery’s “consistently superb wines over its entire history and strong advocacy of traditional winemaking. “The wines, he adds, “show great character and age beautifully”
3. Au Bon Climat Winery, Santa Barbara, Calif.
For almost 35 years, Jim Clendenen’s pioneering Santa Barbara County winery has been producing wines — above all chardonnays and pinot noirs — that set the standard for the region, and for California in general. Sourcing grapes from the legendary Bien Nacido Vineyard and from other top plantings in the area,including his own organically farmed Le Bon Climat, Clendenen makes memorable wines with skill, wit, and, above all, remarkable consistency. From its offhandedly gorgeous non-chardonnay white blends (pinot blanc and pinot gris, sometimes with aligoté added) to its range of complex and addictively drinkable chardonnays(the simple Santa Barbara County bottling at $22 is some of the best wine for the money out there, and even the earthy, well-rounded Nuits-Blanches au Bouge chardonnay is only $35) to the superbly structured Talley Vineyard–Rincon pinot noir, which pretty much defines pinot from this region, Au Bon Climat’s wines are op-flight. (Clendenen’s side projects, including Clendenen Family Vineyards —excellent sauvignon blancs, among other things — as well as Barnham Mendelsohn, Ici La Bas, and Vita Nova, are all worth checking out as well.)
2. Tablas Creek Vineyard, Paso Robles, Calif.
We hailed this 26-year- old Paso Robles property — owned by noted wine importer Robert Haas and the Perrin family of Château de Beaucastel (RhôneValley royalty) — as our 2015 Winery of the Year, not just for its excellent wines but for having been a leader in the use of Rhône varietals in the Paso Robles region and in the fight for approval of 11 sub-districts in the area, and for advancing sustainable and biodynamic vineyard practices not just in its own region but throughout California. It’s what’s in the bottle that earns the winery our No. 2 slot this year: rich, juicy whites (largely roussanne, plus some grenache blanc and a bit of picpoul) and reds (mostly mourvèdre, with varying proportions of grenache, syrah, and counoise) under the Esprit de Tablas (formerly Esprit de Beaucastel) label; the more approachable Côtes de Tablas offerings (based on viognier for the white, grenache for the red); the fresh, sunny Patelin de Tablasrosé (grenache), white (grenache blanc), and red (syrah); the limited-edition single-variety wines released from time to time based on a wide variety of grapes(currently clairette blanche, vermentino, petit manseng, and terret noir, as well as more familiar Rhône varieties); the limited production multi-cé page blends… it’s hard to know what to open first. John Tilson of The Underground Wine Letter hails Tablas Creek “for bringing Old World know-how to a new viticulture area,”adding that “sustainable agriculture practices and traditional winemaking have established them as a role model for Rhône varietals [in California] and the winesare consistently excellent.”Wine writer Anne Montgomery hails their “sophisticated and unusual whites as well as its beautifully made reds.” Sommelier, wine educator, and wine blogger Elizabeth Schneider puts it more succinctly: “They just make kick-ass wine year after year.”
1. Ridge Vineyards, Cupertino, Calif.
Eduardo Bolaños, sommelier for the Terroni Group restaurants in Los Angeles, speaks for most wine-lovers when he calls Paul Draper “just an icon of winemaking.” The 80-year- oldDraper, who has effectively run this legendary winery (founded in 1960) since 1969, retired as CEO and head winemaker this year, but remains chairman of the board, and there’s no reason to suspect that the high standards and unmistakable style he has established will change. Ridge has been an industry leader almost from the beginning years, making superb,traditionally styled wines from some of California’s best vineyards with almost eerie consistency. Ridge subscribes to the philosophy that winemaking should be as natural as possible, and the winery’s fantastic quality is achieved through sustainable farming, handpicking and sorting of grapes, use of native yeasts, naturally occurring malolactic fermentation, and minimal employment of SO2. Ridge produces vineyard-specific varietals and blends from the Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, and Paso Robles AVAs. The oldest of the Ridge estates, Monte Bello, was first planted in 1885, abandoned after prohibition, and replanted in the 1940s. As the vines age, yield drops, but the remaining grapes keep gaining in concentration and complexity. The winery’s zinfandels are legendary, its cabernet sauvignons highly praised, its chardonnays, merlots, petite sirahs, and Rhône-style blends are top-of- the-line. No wine producer is perfect, 100 percent on all the time — but Ridge comes very close, and we feel confident in naming it the best winery in America for the second time.
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