Diora La Splendeur du Soleil Chardonnay White Wine, Monterey, California

Past the French flourish in this wine's name, the word that actually locates it is Monterey. Regional guides treat that as a broad pointer rather than a precise one: Monterey is a California county and a wine origin used on labels, not one single growing area, and it holds the Monterey AVA along with other recognized areas that draw narrower boundaries.

We do not have a shopper rating for this bottle. The maker is easier to pin down: Delicato Family Wines lists Diora in its portfolio and says the brand works from its family-owned estate in Monterey.

The same regional guides explain why the spot is worth naming. A long valley pulls cool air and fog inland from Monterey Bay, they say, strongest in the north and weaker toward the warmer southern districts, with daily wind and temperature swings in between; but on a county label that spread is exactly what stays open, and the guides note the exact growing area or vineyard is needed before treating it as one site.

In the stores we checked in September 2026, the price sat between $15.99 and $23.99.

Diora's own winemaking notes describe a hands-on process for this Chardonnay: the fruit is fully barrel-fermented, roughly 40 to 45 percent of it in new oak, then kept in oak for about fourteen months total, and stirred by hand for months on end while resting on its spent yeast, a technique the producer says builds a rounder, creamier texture. The winemaker is James Ewart, who the winery says arrived from Australia in 2000 to work the San Bernabe Vineyard and never left; Diora credits his combined background in viticulture, geology and chemistry for a close read of the vineyard's soils. The producer's own materials disagree on the exact blend behind the vintage on record: the live product page describes roughly 80 percent San Bernabe fruit to 20 percent Santa Lucia Highlands fruit, while a technical sheet linked from that same page, for a different vintage, lists 60.5 percent San Bernabe to 39.3 percent Santa Lucia Highlands. That is ordinary vintage drift, but which vintage is actually on shelf is not something we can confirm; both documents agree the finished wine runs 14.5 percent alcohol.

Our call: a good match for a shopper who wants the oak-driven, buttery style spelled out and is willing to trade some vintage precision for it; Diora states the barrel regime, the winemaker's background and a consistent 14.5 percent alcohol across the vintages we found. Pass if you want a leaner, less oaked Chardonnay, or need the exact current vintage confirmed; the producer's own blend figures disagree depending on which vintage's page you read, and no shopper rating has reached our record.

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