Fetzer Chardonnay California White Wine

What does "Chardonnay" on a label actually tell you? Less than a shopper might expect. Our grape research calls it a white grape behind both still and sparkling wines, one that can be left unoaked to stay lighter or fermented and aged in oak to carry more weight. The official guides tie the cooler-grown versions to citrus and apple and the riper ones to peach or tropical notes, and they are careful to add that the toast and spice from oak come from cellar work, not from anything the grape name delivers on its own.

Fetzer offers something firmer than a taste claim: it says it is a Certified B Corporation, based in Hopland, in California's Mendocino County. We do not have a shopper rating for this wine, though its price, at the low end of the whites we track, is easy to read: we saw it between $9.99 and $10.99 in our September 2026 checks.

Fetzer's own product page fills in what the grape guide leaves general: this Chardonnay comes in at 13.5 percent alcohol from California-appellation fruit, and the producer's tasting note reaches for ripe pear and apple with a hint of toast, plus notes of vanilla, pineapple and honeydew, an oaked, fuller style within the range the grape guides describe. The producer's B Corp claim runs deeper than the label logo: Fetzer's sustainability pages also name a TRUE certification and a consumer-facing “Fill It Forward” program that tracks reusable water-bottle refills toward clean-water and ocean-plastic causes. On the page showing its 2019 vintage, the producer cites a December 2020 score of 90 points from critic James Suckling and a matching 90 points from The Tasting Panel in January 2021, dated scores that may not reflect the vintage currently on shelves.

Our call: an easy pick if a stated, oaked California style and the producer's sustainability credentials, B Corp and TRUE certification alike, are enough on their own; it also sits at the low end of the whites we track. Pass if you want the crowd's confirmation before buying; no shopper rating has reached our record for this bottle yet.

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