Affordable Chardonnay

Filed in archive California Wines on September 11, 2006

I reported last week about how journalist and wine writer Mark Sontz basically dissed the average Califorina Chardonnay as being, well, icky.

In fact, this sort of attitude toward Chardonnay, shared by many people like myself as well, may be why it is often consider the wine for non-wine drinkers. Since they don't normally drink much wine, they'll drink just about anything because they don't know any better.

After giving his strong opinion about these grapes, Sontz received a lot of negative feedback on the wines he selected as decent enough to drink because they were too pricey for the average pocket book. This week he's back with some more reasonable suggestions: 2005 Kali Hart Chardonnay, Santa Lucia Highlands; 2005 Laurel Ridge Chardonnay, California; and 2004 Martin and Weyrich Huerhuero Chardonnay. All are priced around $15.