Chardonnay Legends
It’s a great time to be a Chardonnay drinker, and I’m not just speaking about the arrival of the warm summer months. California is excelling with this grape like never before, with an abundance of outstanding-and classic-scoring bottles emerging from Golden State wineries. But Chardonnay didn’t fulfill its promise in the U.S. overnight. It’s been a long evolution that took years of work by talented winemakers, many of whom cite Burgundy as their inspiration, to bring us to this moment. In this issue, we salute seven legends of California Chardonnay who contributed to the rise of America’s favorite white wine. Some of their names will be familiar to you from their wine labels—Aubert, Hobbs, Kistler, Kongsgaard and Ramey. Helen Turley, the recipient of Wine Spectator’s Distinguished Service Award in 2010, is…