Looking for something cold to enjoy over Labor Day weekend? This week’s Tasting Highlights features a crowd-pleasing selection of delicious West Coast rosés and white wines, including Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Gris and blends. Each offers incredible value, priced at less than $28, with scores up to 91 points.
Rosé lovers should look to Margerum’s fresh and zesty Riviera bottling. Made from mainly Grenache (with a little Mourvèdre, Counoise, Cinsault and Syrah blended), the wine is made in the saignée style and shows fresh fruit with a spicy finish on a succulent frame. Meanwhile, A to Z Wineworks blends Sangiovese and Pinot Noir for a plump and user-friendly style.
At Napa’s Pine Ridge, winemaker Colleen FitzGerald uses grapes from Clarksburg and Lodi to make the winery’s Chenin Blanc–Viognier blend. The Chenin Blanc is picked early to optimize freshness and achieve lower alcohol levels in the finished wine. The Viognier, on the other hand, is left to ripen, imparting floral and spice aromas and a richer mouthfeel. Together, they create a complex blend.
Washington state’s Chris Gorman makes three Chardonnays under his Ashan label, two of which are single-vineyard bottlings from exceptional sites in Columbia Valley (Cold Creek and Connor Lee). The featured, expressive, value-driven Columbia Valley Barrel Fermented bottling uses Chardonnay from multiple vineyards in the region.
Lastly, for a skin-contact white, Union Sacré’s 40 Days is aromatic, with dried floral and herbal notes on a fresh frame of ruby grapefruit. The hazy copper color comes from co-fermenting Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Sylvaner for forty days on the skins.
Also featured in this week’s lineup are the juicy and mouthwatering La Crema Pinot Gris Monterey 2024 and the fragrant and fresh Chehalem Chardonnay Oregon Inox Unoaked 2024. Read on to get our scores and full expert tasting notes for all eight of these West Coast values!
Tasting Highlights’ wine reviews are fresh out of the tasting room, offering a sneak peek of our editors’ most recent ratings—including scores and full tasting notes—to WineSpectator.com members.
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