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2005 Carmel Road Monterey Chardonnay ($14) Fog off of Monterey Bay glides up the Salinas Valley each night, helping to cool grapes throughout the Monterey appellation, resulting in graceful whites like this one, with delicate notes of pear and orange.

2005 Gloria Ferrer Carneros Chardonnay ($18) Chardonnays produced in Carneros are known for their lemon-cream flavors and aromas; this bottling from well-known sparkling wine producer Gloria Ferrer is a classic example.

2005 Sanford Santa Barbara County Chardonnay ($18) Lively apricot fruit defines this affordable Chardonnay from longtime producer Sanford, sourced from three of the Santa Barbara area's best vineyards: Sanford & Benedict, La Rinconada and Bien Nacido.

2005 Babcock Rita's Earth Cuvée Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay ($20) Winemaker Bryan Babcock created this largely unoaked cuvée to combine both New and Old World Chardonnay character—balancing ripe fruit notes, such as apple and pineapple, with minerality and smoky earthiness.

2005 Schug Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($20) Walter Schug, founding winemaker at Joseph Phelps back in the 1970s, is one of the elder statesmen of California winemaking. He has been producing terrific wines under his own name— like this brisk, refreshing, green apple–inflected white—for almost 30 years.

2006 Morgan Metallico Monterey Chardonnay ($22)

years. His Metallico bottling is still one of the best around: In the 2006 vintage, it has ebullient aromas of fresh-cut lime and watermelon and bright, zippy flavors.

2005 Iron Horse UnOaked Green Valley Chardonnay ($25) Iron Horse has been at the forefront of promoting the Green Valley appellation. Located in the coldest, foggiest section of the Russian River Valley, it produces floral, tangy, citrusy Chardonnays like this fresh, unoaked cuvée.

2004 Au Bon Climat Sta. Rita Hills Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Chardonnay ($30) The Sanford & Benedict vineyard helped make the Santa Rita Hills appellation famous, and winemaker Jim Clendenen's bottling, with its elegant structure and minty, stone-fruit flavors, shows why.

2004 Fort Ross Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($32) A string of tiny vineyard parcels only a mile from the ocean—and anywhere from 1,200 to 1,700 feet above it—produced this vivid white. Its intense pear fruit gains complexity from hints of hazelnut and smoky lees.

2005 MacRostie Wildcat Mountain Vineyard Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($35) This pale gold–colored, lemon-scented wine, full of tart apple-inflected fruit, comes from a small, wind-whipped, mountaintop vineyard in the Sonoma Coast appellation.

2005 Longoria Sta. Rita Hills Cuvée Diana ($40) Winemaker Rick Longoria named this wine for his wife, Diana. She has every reason to be pleased by this association; it's a graceful, focused Chardonnay, with a chalky minerality and flavors that recall quince and spice.

2005 Radio-Coteau Savoy Vineyard Anderson Valley Chardonnay ($40) Noted Pinot Noir winemaker Eric Sussman of Radio-Coteau sourced fruit from one of Anderson Valley's most distinctive vineyards for his first white wine—a silky Chardonnay that shows lime and green-apple flavors together with a heady floral aroma.

2004 Neyers Thieriot Vineyard Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($48) Owner Bruce Neyers (who has also worked for years as sales manager for wine importer Kermit Lynch) has been producing Chardonnay from this exceptionally cold vineyard, on the far-western edge of Sonoma County, for 11 years. This creamy, complex bottling is one of his best yet.

2005 Patz & Hall Alder Springs Vineyard Mendocino Chardonnay ($55) Perched seven miles from the Pacific on a hillside 2,100 feet above sea level, the Alder Springs vineyard is known for profound Chardonnay (as well as Pinot Noir). In Patz & Hall's bottling, winemaker James Hall balances layered apple and guava flavors against cool, spicy oak notes.

star selections

2006 Foxglove Edna Valley Chardonnay ($15) Jim and Bob Varner—who make sought-after wines under their Varner label—source grapes for this floral Chardonnay from a cool vineyard south of San Luis Obispo, five miles from the Pacific.

2005 Handley Anderson Valley Chardonnay ($20) Handley's vineyards are in the "Deep End" of the Anderson Valley, the part closest to the Pacific. Cold wind and older vines give this Chardonnay aromatic hints of bitter orange.

2006 Keller Estate Oro De Plata Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($26) This spicy, refreshing white comes from the windswept Petaluma Gap region, west of Carneros. It's aged in stainless steel and neutral oak, which help keep its flavors bright.

2005 Dutton Estate Dutton Palms Vineyard Chardonnay ($45) The scent of chamomile and a touch of rosemary in the peach-pear flavor make this white from Sonoma's cool Green Valley appellation truly distinctive.