Our take
Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay Washington White Wine
- Style
- White wine
- Size
- 750 ml
- Grape
- Chardonnay
- Region
- Washington State
- Shelf barcode
- 0088586603846
Our take
What we make of this bottle
East of Washington's Cascade Range, where the mountains catch most of the rain coming off the Pacific, wine grapes ripen through dry summers of warm days and cool nights. Most of the state's vineyards sit on that dry side. The winery behind this bottle is a long-standing Washington name: Chateau Ste. Michelle says it was established in 1967, with its home winery at Woodinville, as the state's first premium winery. Shoppers currently put the wine at 4.71 out of five, across 42 ratings.
Chardonnay can be made in more than one style, and the winemaker's choices decide which. Category guides note it can be made without oak, which keeps it lighter, or fermented and aged in oak, which can add weight and a rounder feel; the guides describe cooler-end examples leaning to citrus and apple, riper ones to stone fruit. Nothing in this wine's name settles the oak question.
Our price checks place the bottle between $11.99 and $19.99, figures current as of August 12, 2026. The producer's history did not end in 1967. By the winery's own account, the Wyckoff family bought Chateau Ste. Michelle in 2025, putting it in local hands for the first time in fifty years.
Our call: buy it if provenance and price do the deciding. The winery's own account runs from its founding as the state's first premium winery to its recent return to local family ownership, one of the larger rating pools we track stands behind the bottle, and it sits among the least expensive whites we track. Pass if you choose Chardonnay by style; the record documents the house's history, not whether this bottle saw oak.
The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Aug 14, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.
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Read our take →The prices we checked
Dated store checks, not a promise about your store.
- Kroger, Atlanta suburbs, GA$11.99
- Kroger, Cincinnati, OH$14.99
- Ralphs, Long Beach, CA$15.99
- Fred Meyer, Portland, OR$19.99
- King Soopers, Colorado Springs, CO$12.99
- Smith's, Las Vegas, NV$16.49
- Kroger, Knoxville, TN$12.99
- Kroger, Richmond, VA$13.99
- Fry's, Tucson, AZ$12.99
- QFC, Tacoma, WA$13.99
The regular price can vary by store and date.
From the producer
Washington's founding winery
Chateau Ste. Michelle says it was established in 1967 as Washington state's first premium winery, built in Woodinville. The winery's own site also says the Wyckoff family bought Chateau Ste. Michelle in 2025, returning it to local ownership for the first time in 50 years.
Research status
What we are still checking
Our overview above draws on the dated store feed, shopper ratings, our region and grape research, and any sourced producer facts. We are still working to confirm the current release, the full producer record, and the bottle itself, and we update this page as we learn more.
Getting to know Washington State.
A Washington label can point to a large state blend or to a narrower AVA. Most vineyards are east of the Cascade Range, but the exact AVA still matters because elevation, wind, rain and frost exposure change across the state.
What the name means
Washington is a state origin, not one American Viticultural Area. Its wine regions include 21 federally recognized AVAs, some shared with Oregon.
How grapes grow here
The Cascade Range blocks much of the Pacific rain from eastern Washington. That creates generally dry growing conditions with warm summer days, cool nights and winter frost risk, while western sites have stronger marine influence.
What lies under the vines
Flood deposits, windblown silt, sand, gravel and volcanic material occur across Washington wine country. A state name alone does not identify one soil or vineyard setting.
How large the region is
- Recognized AVAs
- 21 wine-growing areas are listed by the Washington State Wine Commission.
- Label resolution
- Washington State is broader than an AVA, so the bottle or producer must establish a more specific place.
Places within the region
- Columbia Valley
- A very large AVA that contains many of Washington's smaller wine regions and crosses into Oregon.
- Yakima Valley and Walla Walla Valley
- Two established AVAs within the broader eastern Washington landscape, each with its own boundaries and local conditions.
Getting to know Chardonnay.
Chardonnay is a white grape used for still and sparkling wine. It can be made without oak for a lighter shape or fermented and aged in oak for more weight.
Category guide
What to expect in the glass
Official category guides place citrus and apple at the cooler end and stone fruit or tropical fruit in riper examples. Oak and time on the spent yeast can add toast, spice and a rounder texture, but those features are winemaking choices rather than a guarantee.
Sources: New Zealand Winegrowers; Napa Valley Vintners. Checked Aug 10, 2026. See all 116 Chardonnay wines we cover →
Where this information comes from
- Store listing
- Price, package, product identifier, and shopper rating. Checked Aug 10, 2026.
- Barcode
- The shelf barcode shown here is computed from the store product identifier. It has not been checked against a bottle.
- Method
- Every price, rating and fact here is a dated observation. How we check.