2019 Martin Ray Vineyards and Winery Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains 750 ml

Baseball superstition holds that it’s bad luck to talk about a pitcher when he’s in the middle of throwing a no-hitter. So we’ll say the next part quietly: Martin Ray is setting a bar for value winemaking in California right now that’s practically unprecedented. We couldn’t be more excited to bring you the latest from this in-the-zone producer.

Today’s creamy, honeysuckle-kissed Chardonnay, called “mouthwateringly intense” and “hard to resist” by James Suckling to the tune of 93 points, is primarily sourced from one of the greatest vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Generously perfumed with white peach, lemon curd, and pastry cream, it’s appointment drinking for lovers of rich New World opulence.  

This high-altitude, spun-gold stunner is in league with elite California Chardonnays that go for two or three times the price. The Martin Ray team, including 100-point winemaker Keith Emerson, has once again done what many consider impossible: put out an industry-best, terroir-transparent wine at one of the market’s most affordable prices.

Almost all the grapes hail from the Bald Mountain Vineyard, where stiff marine breezes meet fine sandy white soils at 1,000 feet of elevation. Two miles from the Pacific Ocean, it sees the kind of refrigerated sunshine in which Burgundian varieties thrive. Coiled mineral energy and mountaintop freshness have made this vineyard home to a string of top-rated hits, including a $65, 95-point Beauregard bottling that Wine Enthusiast compared to top Chablis.

To capture that prestige and pedigree in a bottle that’s under $25 is the kind of rare feat that has turned us, and a huge segment of Wine Access members, into superfans of this historic label.

Martin Ray—a midcentury pioneer of California viticulture alongside legends like Donn Chappellet and Robert Mondavi—set out in 1943 to craft Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that would rival the best of France, during a time when most would have found that notion laughable.

Yet the outstanding quality of the wines ultimately validated Martin Ray’s ambition; before long, his wines were being poured in the White House under both the Johnson and Nixon administrations. That success established the blueprint for how the estate operates today: form long-term relationships with the best growers, work with low-yielding, intense sites, and exercise discipline in the cellar.

Bald Mountain Vineyard is typically one of the last sites Martin Ray harvests, which allowed the vines to absorb the full influence of the incredible, temperate 2019 vintage. The fruit is handled with exquisite care and gently whole-cluster pressed. Then, it ages gracefully in 35% new French oak, with lees stirring to maximize richness.

Whether you’re superstitious or not, nab this one fast, because no matter how much Martin Ray makes, it’s never enough to satisfy demand.