Caymus Vineyards Bonanza Chardonnay White Wine

Caymus Vineyards describes itself as a family-run winery. The company says the winery was established in 1972 by Lorna and Charlie Wagner Sr. together with their son Chuck Wagner, and that the same family still owns and runs it today. This Chardonnay was priced from $18.99 to $29.99 in our September 2026 checks.

Whether it went through oak is one way Chardonnay varies widely. Official category guides say oak and contact with spent yeast can add toast, spice and a rounder texture, though those come down to winemaking choices, not a guarantee. If you are comparing bottles at the shelf, oak is one difference worth asking about.

We do not have a shopper rating for this bottle. The median rating across the wines we track is 4.71.

Bonanza's own product listing, published on the Wagner family's shared shop site rather than caymus.com itself, answers the oak question directly: “not buttery or oak driven,” the brand's tasting note reads, describing “light melon and a bouquet of fresh flowers” with a round, slightly viscous entry and “vibrant acidity,” the producer's words. The Bonanza brand itself started in 2019 with a Cabernet Sauvignon, an homage to Caymus co-founder Charlie Wagner Sr.'s enjoyment of an easy glass of wine with a meal; this Chardonnay is a newer addition, continued by Charlie Sr.'s namesake grandson, by the brand's account. The winery's own online shop lists the bottle at $20 for a standard 750 ml, a separate figure from the grocery-store prices in our checks above.

Our call: worth a try if the producer's plain style claim is what draws you; Bonanza states directly that this Chardonnay skips oak and butter for a lighter, fruit-forward style, and it comes from a family that has run the winery since 1972, by the company's own account. Pass if you want a shopper rating or a tech sheet with the vineyard sourcing and alcohol level to weigh alongside that account; none of the three has reached our record for this wine.

The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.