Want to Understand California Wine? These 11 Bottles Will Teach You Everything

California’s wine history spans nearly 300 years, stretching from the mid-1700s, when Spanish missionaries planted vines for sacramental wine, to today, when the state has over 615,000 acres of vineyards and nearly 5,000 wineries. 

Perhaps the most crucial inflection point in that history was what’s now called the Judgment of Paris tasting, which occurred in 1976; in it, California wines competed blind against some of the greatest wines of France, before French judges, and walked away victorious. 

What not everyone knows, though, is that a California wine from Charles Wetmore’s Cresta Blanca winery in the Livermore Valley won the grand prize for wine at the 1889 Paris Exposition, 87 years before that. So the history of quality wine in California is longer than one might think, and who knows—in an alternative history, the U.S. might not have passed Prohibition, hundreds of wineries would not have gone out of business as a result, and a 1976 tasting where California wines performed on an equal basis with French ones might not have surprised anyone. Interesting thought; but, a thought is all that it remains.

There are plenty of other turning points in the history of California wine, all of them fascinating (to anyone who loves wine, at least). Here’s a bottle-by-bottle guide through that history, allowing you to taste as you go.

The 1800s

2023 Gundlach Bundschu Gewürztraminer ($29)

Missionaries from Spain brought vines to California as early as the 1760s, but the real start of California wine came in the 1850s, with names like D’Agostini (now Sobon Estate) in Amador County, Buena Vista in Sonoma, and the oldest winery in California still owned by the family who founded it, Gundlach Bundschu.

Jacob Gundlach planted his first vines in 1859, Charles Bundschu married Francisca Gundlach in 1875, and today, sixth-generation Jeff Bundschu runs it. Look for the family’s floral 2023 Gundlach Bundschu Gewürztraminer ($29), one of the varieties that Jacob first planted back before the Civil War.

Post-Prohibition rebirth

2021 Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon ($100)

Napa Valley’s Inglenook, which dates back to 1879, was one of the first wineries to rise phoenix-like from the ashes of Prohibition. The Cabernets that Inglenook made under the direction of owner John Daniel Jr. from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s are legendary.

Under financial pressure, Daniel sold in 1964 to a large corporation; quality soon fell to jug-wine level until movie director Francis Ford Coppola purchased part of the estate (in 1975) and the name (in 2011). Today, Inglenook is again a top Napa Valley winery, as wines like its layered, elegant 2021 Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon ($100) clearly show.

Chardonnay and Pinot Noir get started

2022 Hanzell Estate Chardonnay ($50)

In the 1950s, neither Chardonnay nor Pinot Noir were significant in California — there were at most a few hundred acres of each. But a former ambassador named James Zellerbach had spent time in Burgundy and fallen in love with its wines, and the original land he cultivated in 1953 outside the town of Sonoma now has the oldest vines of both varieties in California.

Hanzell also pioneered the Burgundian practice in California of fermenting Chardonnay in oak barrels rather than steel tanks (or redwood vats). The lemon-scented 2022 Hanzell Estate Chardonnay ($50) is, as it is each vintage, one of California’s best.

Bring on the bubbles

2021 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs ($44)

The Champenois started making sparkling wine in the late 1600s, but it wasn’t until 1965 that the Davies family, at their historic Schramsberg estate on the slopes of Napa Valley’s Diamond Mountain, decided to give Americans some homegrown fizz — and a very high-quality version at that.

Schramsberg made news when its wine was served for President Richard Nixon’s historic “Toast to Peace” at a 1972 state dinner with China’s Premier Zhou Enlai, and over 50 years later, that same graceful 100% Chardonnay bottling, the 2021 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs ($44) is still worthy of world leaders (or Food & Wine readers — take your pick).

The judgment of Paris

2021 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Chardonnay ($75)

This blind tasting, held in Paris in 1976 and judged by French wine experts, pitted top California Cabernets and Chardonnays against top French bottles; it was historic for two reasons. First, California won first place in both categories. Second, Time magazine ran a major article about it, which was read by millions.

It’s hard now to imagine a time when California wines were considered B-level, but there was, and this tasting ended it. To try one of the winners (with slightly different vineyard sources than the original vintage), find the impeccably precise 2021 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Chardonnay ($75).

Chardonnay takes off

2022 Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay ($17)

California Chardonnay was once an afterthought. In 1970, there were only 3,000 acres of Chardonnay planted in the state. Today, there are over 90,000, and for years it has been the most popular white wine in America. Should it be big and buttery? Elegant and complex? Cheap and gluggable? Your call: Chardonnay can accommodate almost any style. But if you want a California benchmark, Kendall-Jackson stands out. The first vintage of its mega-selling Chardonnay arrived in 1982. The current 2022 Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay ($17) reliably balances richness and focus and remains a great weeknight bargain.

The rise of cult Cabernets

2020 Harlan Estate ($1,700)

There are Cabernet Sauvignons, and then there are “cult Cabernets.” The term refers to wines that are made in tiny amounts, are usually sold to a mailing list of private customers, receive stratospheric scores from wine critics, and cost a fortune. The real wave hit in 1995 and 1996, when Bryant, Colgin Cellars, Harlan Estate, and Screaming Eagle all launched their first wines, and all four are still at the top of this pricey, precarious heap. You’ll max out the ATM if you want to try one, but there’s no question that the seductive, powerful, complex 2020 Harlan Estate ($1,700) is a truly spectacular wine.

Big wine

2021 Caymus Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($90)

Around the late 1990s, California red wines got … big. Chardonnay had already gone in that direction, leaning into oak, butter, and viscosity. Then, Cabernets and other varieties seemed to be on an ever-intensifying quest for more: more ripeness, more fruit, more richness, more moreness.

The style vacuumed in high critical scores, particularly from the era’s über-critic, Robert Parker, but proved polarizing over time. Yet there are loyal fans, as shown by the unshakable popularity of Caymus Cabernet. The 2021 Caymus Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($90) is true to form: luscious; loaded with ripe, dark fruit; and mouth-coatingly plush.

The film that launched a thousand Pinots

2022 Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir ($32)

A funny thing happened in 2004, when director Alexander Payne released his wine-centric buddy movie Sideways. People flocked to the box office, and they also flocked to Pinot Noir, thanks to angsty main character Miles Raymond’s passion for it.

The movie may have faded from cultural memory somewhat, but Pinot Noir hasn’t — more than five times as much Pinot is made today as in the early 2000s. And California’s Central Coast, where Miles and his pal Jack undertook their picaresque wine ramble, remains a great source. Try the graceful, fragrant 2022 Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir ($32) for an example.

The blend bonanza

2021 Leviathan Red Wine ($40)

The popular red blends of the 2010s and on owe much of their success to winemaker Dave Phinney’s decision in 2000 to release a darkly fruity Zinfandel blend called The Prisoner. He made 385 cases. Today, under Constellation Brands ownership, the number of cases made each year is more like 250,000. The Prisoner’s descendants are often interchangeable, many relying on a tiny amount of residual sugar to make their flavors seem richer.

One top-notch alternative, free from sweetness and very much not interchangeable, is star winemaker Andy Erickson’s 2021 Leviathan Red Wine ($40), a potent, spicy blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and other varieties.

Left-coast natural

2022 Broc Cellars Amore Rosso ($30)

The natural-wine movement started and rose to prominence in Europe, operating under a less-is-more philosophy that eschews manufactured yeasts, enzymes, sulfur additions, and really any of the technical practices that dominate most commercial winemaking.

California was slow to latch on to this approach, but in the 2010s, more and more California winemakers emerged who chose to work in this nothing-added-nothing-removed manner. Count Chris Brockway as a true revolutionary, though: With his Broc Cellars, he’s been at it since 2002. Check out the lively, light-bodied 2022 Broc Cellars Amore Rosso ($30).