100% Chardonnay

Food pairings: Crab cakes, lobster and seared scallops, roast chicken with potatoes, roast pork, creamy pasta, barley risotto, corn dishes and soft cheeses.

Winemaking: The grapes are picked at night, block by block, as each reaches optimal ripeness, to keep their natural acidity. The cool fruit is gently whole-cluster pressed, and the juice settles overnight in tank before going to barrel for both primary and malolactic fermentation. The lees are stirred every 7 to 10 days for richness and a creamy texture, and the wine ages for nine months in American and French oak barrels, about a third of them new.

Vineyards and terroir: The fruit comes from Rombauer's estate vineyards in Carneros and from select growers, including the Sangiacomo family, long-term partners who have farmed their land for three generations. Carneros sits where San Pablo Bay meets the southern end of the Napa and Sonoma valleys, and its cool, bay-influenced climate gives intense fruit balanced by fresh acidity. 2024 was a classic vintage, with good winter rain, a moderate spring and warm spells in September.

Family and history: Koerner Rombauer, a longtime airline pilot, and his wife Joan settled in St. Helena in 1972 and founded Rombauer Vineyards in 1980. They crushed their first Chardonnay in 1982, and in 1990 they bought their first Carneros Chardonnay grapes, the start of the partnership with the Sangiacomo family. The Carneros Chardonnay soon became the winery's signature wine. Richie Allen, who joined as a harvest intern in 2004, has been head winemaker since 2008, and the family still owns and runs the winery.

In the pictures: The barrel-shaped entrance to the wine caves at the Rombauer winery in St. Helena, Napa Valley (photo: Carol M. Highsmith, 2012, public domain). Chardonnay vines under early morning clouds on the Napa side of Los Carneros (photo: Kemble83, 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0).