This yellow colored Chardonnay opens with a faint lemon and pineapple bouquet with a hint of teaberry. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied, balanced and smooth. The flavor profile is a tasty pear and pineapple blend with hints of mild oak and pecan. The finish is dry and its flavors drift away nicely. This Chard is food friendly and would pair nicely with a mild dish. I would pair it with Imperial stuffed halibut with bay scallops or Oregon pink shrimp Dungeness crab.

Wines of the Week: Creamy Chardonnay Tropical fruit and white cherry aromas play nicely with toasty, buttery expressions on the nose. Flavors of pineapple, apricot, and lemon wrap around nuances of butter, vanilla, and spring flowers on the palate. A balanced acidity and solid layers for under $20 make this Chardonnay well worth a try.

Coming from the Arroyo Seco (the Clark Vineyard) appellation and aged 11 months in 78% new French oak, the 2016 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Seco Highlands sports a vivid gold color to go with an exotic bouquet of honeyed orange rind, flowers, Meyer lemons, and citrus oil. Incredibly exotic and perfumed, with an almost Muscat character, drink this medium-bodied, nicely balanced Chardonnay over the coming couple of years.

Cali Chard Always a standout Chard from multiple vineyards located up and down the coast of California. This has a voluptuous nose of layered and expressive apple, pear, vanilla, buttered toast and creamy barrel spices. It’s a lush and spicy Chard on the palate with a range of ripe orchard fruits, mango, pineapple and just enough acidity to keep it lively on the finish. Big, rich, Cali Chard.

Wines of the Week: 90 Point Bargains for Thanksgiving Notes of pineapples, peaches, butter, and vanilla greet the senses. The palate weaves together flavors of pineapple, peach, and passion fruit with suggestions of buttery oak and creamy vanilla. There’s a welcoming richness that’s balanced by a fresh acidity which makes it well suited for your appetizers or the turkey itself.

USA, California, Northern California: Napa & Some Sonoma New Releases Aged nine months in 11% new French oak, the 2016 Jackson Estate Fulton Ranch Chardonnay rocks up with exuberant honeyed apricots, honeydew melon and guava scents with touches of orange blossoms and lanolin. Medium to full-bodied, it delivers mouth-filling stone fruit and melon flavors with a satiny texture and great length.

USA, California, Northern California: Napa & Some Sonoma New Releases The 2016 Jackson Estate Cloud Landing Chardonnay comes from the new Petaluma Gap AVA. Aged 12 months in 26% new French oak, it features bold pink grapefruit, Golden Delicious apples and fresh pears scents with hints of nutmeg, croissant and acacia honey. The palate is medium-bodied with lovely elegance and a savoriness that is well defined by a refreshing backbone and creamy finish.

Bright gold color. Bright aromas of sea salt, almond, lots of ocean breeze, along with rich elements of toasted biscuits and toffee. Brisk acidity on the palate aligns with a rich texture, all balanced nicely. Lemon curd, bruised apple, pineapple upside down cake, along with toffee, almond, toasted biscuits, but there’s also a streak of chalk and seashells. Rich but lively, too, there is a lot going on here! Fermented and aged in 41% new French oak.

The Jackson family has mastered making Chardonnay in large quantities at fair price points, and this bottling fits that theme perfectly. Soft white peach, sea salt, brown butter and guava aromas lead into a palate that’s tightly wound with apricot, pan-seared apple and salty smoke flavors.

Hidden Gems from California's Central Coast for Under $30 The Jackson family has mastered making Chardonnay in large quantities at fair price points, and this bottling fits that theme perfectly. Soft white peach, sea salt, brown butter and guava aromas lead into a palate that’s tightly wound with apricot, pan-seared apple and salty smoke flavors. Editors’ Choice.

The 2015 Chardonnay Grand Reserve is a coastal cuvée from the Jackson holdings in Monterey and Santa Barbara. A hundred percent barrel-fermented for eight months, this wine emerges primarily from Dijon and Rued Chardonnay clones. Loads of tropical fruits like pineapple, mango and guava are present in the aromatics of this rich, zesty, luxurious style of Chardonnay, which offers a boatload of fruit in a somewhat dramatic, in-your-face style. There’s plenty of it (153,000 cases) and the price is irresistible. Drink it over the next several years.

This dark yellow colored Chardonnay from Kendall Jackson opens with a pear and vanilla oak bouquet. On the palate, this wine is full bodied, slightly acidic and juicy. The flavor profile is a vanilla oak influenced Bartlett pear with notes of pineapple. I also detected hints of mild apricot and Chinese five spice. The finish is dry and its flavors linger and lasts for quite a while. This wine is ideal for readers who like a rich-styled Chard. I would pair it with chicken and wild mushroom tortellini with a light cream butter sauce. Very good+.

A lush, overt wine, the 2015 Chardonnay Piner Hills captures the essence of the Russian River Valley. Orchard fruit, butter, pastry and lemon confit give the wine its voluptuous, inviting personality. Texturally, the Piner Hills is quite polished in its feel and overall balance.

This is an easy wine to recommend for its creamy seductive texture. Some will complain it’s heavy or overdone, but those who like a rich Chardonnay with a hint of butter will embrace it. It does double duty as a stand-alone aperitif or to accompany a roast chicken with a creamy mushroom sauce.

The 2015 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Camelot Highlands shows the richer side of Santa Barbara County, especially next to the appellation wine. Tropical fruit, pineapple, butter and sweet French oak give the 2015 much of its racy personality. I would prefer to drink this inviting, unctuous Chardonnay over the next few years.

Broad and warm notes of light butter, baked yellow apples, cracked apricot and sliced nectarine are lifted by lime-peel tension on the fresh nose of this bottling. Preserved lemon and toasted almond flavors show once sipped, framed by a creamy mouthfeel and tartness provided by orange bitters.

Smooth, silky and juicy with bright acidity and ripe pear fruit; mellow, balanced and long.

Orange peel, crème brulée, spice, popcorn, vanilla and new oak are some of the signatures in the 2014 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Camelot Highlands. This is another voluptuous, oily Chardonnay from Kendall-Jackson built more on overtness rather than subtlety. The 2014 should offer its finest drinking over the next few years.

The 2014 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Camelot Highlands is 100% barrel-fermented and spends 12 months in wood prior to being bottled. This is a more Burgundian style of Chardonnay, with notes of roasted hazelnuts and smoky oak as well as some poached pear, white peach and apricot. Loads of fruit, medium to full body, and well-integrated wood make for a luscious and buttery style of Chardonnay to drink over the next 4-6 years.

Their flagship (and most expensive) Chardonnay is the 2013 Chardonnay Stature. I rarely like this as much as some of the other cuvées. It seems to get more oak (100% barrel-fermented, 100% French oak of which 75% is new) and has a light, more evolved, golden color, more candied citrus, and lots of ripe pear, pineapple and honeysuckle notes. It’s rich, full-bodied, but slightly overdone compared to the other more fresh, but still exuberant and expressive Chardonnays.

The 2013 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Series is outstanding. This is 100% barrel-fermented and is a much smaller cuvée at just over 2,000 cases. It hails from the Santa Maria Valley, hence the Central Coast tropical fruits jump from the glass with notes of mango, pineapple and honeysuckle. The wine is rich, full-bodied and loaded with fruit, so fruit-bomb lovers will get a charge from this beauty. Drink it over the next few years.

The real superstar, if you want to spend a few more dollars, is the 2013 Chardonnay Grand Reserve, which is a blend of 54% Monterey estate fruit with 46% Santa Barbara estate fruit. This is aged in 31% new French oak and a touch of American wood as well, for nine months prior to bottling. The wine shows honeysuckle, brioche, pineapple, mango, and orange notes in a boisterous, exuberant, richly fruity, but pure, medium-bodied style with the oak kicked to the background.

The 2013 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Seco Highlands is a real stand out. Exotic aromatics with Riesling-like overtones open up in the glass, followed by precise, crystalline fruit in a wine that impresses for its deft balance of power and more eccentric qualities. This Seco Highlands Chardonnay is one of the many highlights in this range.

We admire this Chardonnay for its elegance also in the use of wood, which is present, but with the finesse to offer the basis for the fruit's brilliance and the excellent acidity. Chardonnay comes from its own vineyards in the coastal and cold districts of Monterey (36%), Santa Barbara (36%), Mendocino (14%) Sonoma (14% ), San Luiz Obispo (3%).

Another outstanding Chardonnay is the 2013 Chardonnay Jackson Estate Piner Hills from a vineyard in the Russian River. This sees 100% French oak, of which 46% is new. This wine, coming from the Goldridge soils has more loamy soil characteristics, honeysuckle, crème brûlée, brioche and orange blossom notes. Some poached pears also make an appearance in this medium to full-bodied, stylish and pure Chardonnay.