Trefethen Chardonnay 2022
My hesitation toward New World Chardonnay is totally a matter of personal taste. I’m not particularly fond of wines where the grapes are overly ripe, and too often they come with more oak influence than I care for — so even when a bottle is right in front of me, I’m rarely tempted. In short, I sometimes find them a bit dull. Of course, I’m well aware that many people adore ripe, sun-drenched Chardonnay layered with toasty oak, and that it would be unfair to lump all “New World Chardonnay” into a single category. There are certainly outstanding wines of great quality, especially at the premium end, where you can find many examples that rival Burgundy in style. Still, this is simply a matter of personal preference.
That said, I recently encountered a New World Chardonnay that genuinely intrigued me — from California, no less, and specifically from Napa Valley: Trefethen Chardonnay 2022.
This is a California Chardonnay with the heat dialed down. In fact, the aromatic profile leans so green and fresh that it can feel more restrained than many modern Bourgogne Blancs. Curious as to how this was possible for a Napa Valley wine, I discovered that the fruit comes from the Oak Knoll District, located at the southern end of Napa Valley. Strongly influenced by cool marine air and fog from San Pablo Bay, this is the coolest growing region in Napa. As a result, the grapes ripen slowly, developing complexity while retaining vibrant acidity.
If you’re expecting bold vanilla, coconut, or tropical pineapple aromas from heavy oak aging and intense sunshine — think again. Instead, the wine opens with fresh green apple and lemon, followed by melon, peach, and a gentle hint of mango, all lifted by subtle herbal notes that leave the palate feeling crisp and refreshed. Oak is present, but beautifully restrained, allowing the wine’s delicate aromatics and well-balanced acidity to shine through. The result is a remarkably clean and precise expression of Chardonnay. Trefethen Chardonnay also has an impressive pedigree. In 1979, just three years after the famed Judgment of Paris, it was awarded World’s Best Chardonnay at a blind tasting hosted by the French wine magazine Gault & Millau — an event reportedly even larger in scale than the Paris tasting itself. This is a wine that has proven its class for decades. A Napa Valley Chardonnay with a distinctly European sensibility — that, in a nutshell, is Trefethen Chardonnay 2022.
