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The Path Chardonnay, California, USA 2022 (from £10.99, brayvalleywines.co.uk; kwoff.co.uk; darcywine.co.uk) The last time I wrote about wine from the United States after a certain person won a certain election back in November, I complained about the lack of decent quality wines available from the country at prices under £20. A couple of weeks before said reality star/criminal took up residence in The White House TV room for another four years earlier this week, I attended a tasting of about 140 wines from California hosted by The California Wine Institute and UK trade magazine The Wine Merchant – a tasting that confirmed that the US does indeed have a higher average starting point for interesting wine, but that it nonetheless can offer good value in that £10 to £20 bracket if you look hard enough. The Path Chardonnay is a case in point, a sunny, ample, peachy fruit-filled, but fresh and balanced example of a white grape variety that is one of California’s biggest strengths.
Haarmeyer Zinfandel, Lodi, California, USA 2022 (£19, allywines.com) For properly thrilling chardonnay that matches the best of the variety’s homeland in Burgundy or other modern classic chardonnay regions such as Victoria in Australia, there is something of a premium to pay – but no more (considerably less in fact) than you would expect if you were upgrading from a simple, regional Burgundy (labelled Bourgogne blanc) to a swanky Meursault or Montrachet. Certainly, in the context of the world’s very best chardonnays, you could build a case for saying the savoury, chiselled, luminously bright and energetic Arnot-Roberts Watson Ranch Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2022 is good value for its £48.50 price tag at robersonwine.com. The grape variety that I think generally offers the best dollar-for-dollar value in California, however, is the state’s very own zinfandel, which can come in a wide variety of winemaking styles including Haarmeyer’s light and juicy red, which has something of Beaujolais in its light-and-juicy feel and the easy, chillable drinkability of its tangy red berry flavours.
Newfound Gravels Red, California 2022 (£29.95, jeroboams.co.uk) The terrifying wildfires that swept through LA earlier this month have put California once again at the very centre of the climate crisis – a position with which the state’s inhabitants are growing wearily familiar. Certainly, California’s vintners, most of whom are based in the north of the state, have suffered enormously from wildfires in recent years, and many are at the forefront of looking into ways of mitigating the effects of rapidly warming temperatures on their livelihoods, including planting varieties that offer better resistance to extreme heat and prolonged drought. Among the favoured varieties is the Mediterranean favourite, grenache, known as garnacha in Spain, which is already responsible for some of my favourite Californian red wines, whether on its own or, inspired by the wines of the southern Rhône Valley in France, in a classic blend with syrah, mourvèdre and others. Newfound Gravels Red, from a producer based in the foothills of the Sierra Foothills of north central California, is a prime example of 100% California grenache: a richly brambly fruited, but slinky, wild-herb-infused wintry red.
