2021 Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay Estate Grown Napa Valley 750 ml

There’s a simple reason that Grgich Hills Chardonnay causes waves of anticipation when we see it on our tasting table: There might be no wine more directly related to California’s single most famous Chard of all time.

The winery’s namesake, Mike Grgich, crafted the Chateau Montelena bottling that took home the top prize in the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting. Now, the winery he founded turns out some of our—and our members’—favorite Chardonnays. It’s Napa royalty.

The year after he conquered Paris, Mike Grgich founded Grgich Hills, and the first vintage of that Chardonnay beat 221 others in a blind tasting known as “The Great Chicago Chardonnay Showdown.” 

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 USA from Croatia in the 1980s. From Montelena, through Mike (who passed away last year), 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 barrel-ferments the wine on native yeast before aging it for ten months in French oak (roughly 40% new). The Chardonnay undergoes no malolactic fermentation, which is why Grgich has a distinct verve that recalls the energy of great white Burgundy.