2021 Parkhurst Wine Cellars Chardonnay Frink Vineyard Rogue Valley 750 ml

Oregon’s Rogue Valley—and specifically Parkhurst Wine Cellars Frink Vineyard Chardonnay—is a secret weapon for lovers of California wine looking for a deal. While it might share a state flag with the Willamette Valley, Rogue Valley is several hours south and much, much warmer.

Here, the high-elevation Frink Vineyard’s steep slopes of volcanic soil luxuriate in the daytime heat and cool off dramatically at night. It’s a climate suited to producing rich Chardonnay that retains a bright finish. And in the outstanding ‘21 vintage, Parkhurst produced a bottle that should have Napa wines looking over their shoulder—one made by one of Southern Oregon’s most acclaimed winemakers, no less. 

Oregon’s Rogue River Valley is remote, it’s gorgeous, it’s untamed, which means it’s off the radar for most wine lovers—including plenty of connoisseurs within the Pacific Northwest. The Frink Vineyard is owned by the Naumes family, who have been farming in the area for a century—growing pears for generations before recognizing the potential for grapes in the area. Frink, one of their oldest plantings, takes its name from the family who owned the land before them. It soars to nearly 2,000 feet above sea level on the valley’s western side. 

There, temperatures climb steeply during the day before a dramatic diurnal shift at night. As a result, Chardonnay planted on the Frick Vineyard’s slopes can ripen to golden opulence, taking on flavors of yellow apples, lemon curd, and ripe pears while preserving a lively acidity to keep things fresh. Most winemakers would be thrilled to work with grapes like these.

The one that gets the privilege is Chris Graves, one of the most respected enologists in Southern Oregon and a former speaker at the Oregon Wine Symposium. In 2021—one of the state’s greatest-ever vintages—he fermented the juice in a mixture of stainless steel tanks and oak barrels. Then he aged this Chardonnay for a full 14 months in French oak from top coopers like Damy, Sirugue, Taransaud, and Seguin Moreau. The lees were stirred regularly to impart more texture, and the resulting wine is one that will thrill lovers of classic California Chard.