2018 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay Estate Grown Napa Valley 750 ml

Grgich Hills has been a Napa Valley legend for decades, and their Estate Grown Chardonnay is consistently one of our top-rated and most re-ordered Napa Chardonnays. 

This golden-hued 2018—from one of the best Napa vintages in recent memory—is already following suit, with early five-star member reviews praising it as the “Best value in the Valley for Chardonnay,” and “Great wine as always. I have been buying this wine since '91!”

Grgich is always a timeless expression of what put California Chardonnay on the map. Deep and golden-cored in the glass, it’s got striking marigold, roasted hazelnut, sun-kissed lemon, and stone-fruit aromas. The palate is plentiful, showing fresh nectarine, citrus, and toast, with balanced acidity carrying through the long, crisp finish. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate called it, “wonderfully crisp and intense,” praising its “satiny texture.” 

There are few California wines with this kind of royal lineage, and even fewer that can be had for a price like this: $37 per bottle. For lovers of Chardonnay and California’s iconic white wines, this is an absolute must for your cellar.

Mike Grgich is the man behind the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that took home the top prize at the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting. After having emigrated from Croatia and working under André Tchelistcheff and Robert Mondavi, that performance in Paris made Mike a wine-world superstar. 

The year after he bested the Burgundies, Mike founded Grgich Hills, and the first vintage of that Chardonnay beat 221 others in a blind tasting known as “Thes Great Chicago Chardonnay Showdown.” From then on, Mike was the “King of Chardonnay,” and his wine was one of California’s marquee bottles. It’s been served and enjoyed by two U.S. Presidents (both parties!), Queen Elizabeth II, and the President of France—no shock, since Mike’s the man who’d topped France’s best.

Mike’s father once told him that knowledge was more important than property, and that ethos lives in the succession at Grgich Hills. While many famous winemakers have gone big with their brands over the years, Grgich has remained family-run. The wines are now crafted by Mike’s nephew Ivo Jeramaz, who, inspired by his uncle’s success, came to the US from Croatia in the 1980s. From Montelena, through Mike, to Grgich Hills today—the connection to California’s greatest Chardonnay glory couldn’t get any more direct.  

Ivo is fanatical about making Chardonnay that reflects the estate’s organically farmed vineyards in Carneros and American Canyon in the cool southern end of Napa Valley. He ferments the Chardonnay in barrels with wild yeasts—which he feels is the best way to get a true expression of Grgich's unique sites—before aging it for ten months in French oak. The Chardonnay undergoes no malolactic fermentation, which is why Grgich has a distinct acidic verve that recalls the energy of great white Burgundy.

This is a truly iconic Chardonnay, in the tradition of the California bottling that beat the Burgundies. Every white wine lover’s cellar should have a few, and we know this allocation won’t last long with the Wine Access members who’ve made Grgich a top seller.