2018 Beringer Chardonnay Napa Valley 750 ml

Everything about Napa Valley screams luxury—and the prices that go with it.

Land is expensive, and so vineyards are farmed to perfection to maximize that value. Ditto real estate—big houses, luxury hotels, and fancy restaurants abound. Everyone knows that finding value is the hard part.

So to craft a Chardonnay that delivers a signature Napa Valley experience—big fruit, luxurious texture, a patina of oak—at an everyday price is noteworthy. But Beringer’s 92-point knockout should be no surprise. 

The iconic winery has been making some of the most acclaimed wines in Napa Valley since just after the end of the Civil War, and has the vineyards to show for it. That’s translated into unmatched success over the nearly 150 years—some of the most acclaimed high-end wines in Napa, plus bottlings that massively over-deliver at lower prices, like this one.

Founded in 1875 with Jacob Beringer’s purchase of 215 acres in St. Helena, Beringer is California’s longest continuously operating winery, and they’re often adding to their bona fides as a Napa Valley trailblazer: Theirs was among the first gravity-fed wineries in the state, the first to offer winery tours, and the first winery to have both a red and a white wine named Wine Spectator’s #1 Wine of the Year. 

While the blueprint for Beringer’s Chardonnay success may have been drawn by legendary winemakers Myron Nightingale and Ed Sbragia, who began barrel-fermenting their Chardonnay in French oak way back in 1977, they’ve never made better wines than they do today. This is a standout bottling for the iconic property—one that’s destined to be a weeknight staple for anyone who loves full-bodied Chard.