Our take
Hess Select Chardonnay California White Wine
- Style
- White wine
- Size
- 750 ml
- Grape
- Chardonnay
- Region
- California
- Shelf barcode
- 0717888520024
Our take
What we make of this bottle
The name is Hess Select Chardonnay, a Chardonnay from California. What the word Select means here is not something the record spells out.
In our September 2026 checks it was priced between $12.99 and $19.99, low enough to sit among the more affordable whites we looked at. We do not have a shopper rating for this wine.
Official category guides say Chardonnay can be made without oak for a lighter shape or fermented and aged in oak for more weight. The guides list citrus and apple at the cooler end and stone fruit or tropical fruit in riper examples, and they treat toast, spice and a rounder texture as things oak and yeast aging can add, not a guarantee. If the lighter, unoaked style described by those guides appeals to you, the name will not tell you whether this bottle saw oak.
Hess Persson Estates dates the Hess Collection winery to 1978 and says Donald Hess established it on Mount Veeder.
The producer's technical sheet for the 2025 vintage lists the blend as 100 percent Chardonnay at 13.5 percent alcohol, with 70 percent of the wine kept in stainless steel and the other 30 percent given time in French oak. The winemaker's own notes describe “inviting aromas of grilled pineapple and lemon zest, lifted by a hint of oak,” with the palate carrying “layers of sliced white peach and Golden Delicious apple” through the finish, the producer's words. Hess Persson Estates names Mandy Curley as the winemaker behind the Hess Select line, working under senior winemaker Stephanie Pope; the estate's stated approach favors minimal intervention and letting the fruit's own character lead.
Our call: a reasonable pick if a fully documented tech sheet and a named winemaker are enough for you at this price; Hess Persson Estates lists the exact blend, alcohol and oak treatment for this vintage and credits winemaker Mandy Curley by name, and the price we found sits among the more affordable whites we track. Pass if the shopper crowd is part of your decision; no rating has reached our record yet, so this bottle carries no track record beyond the producer's own account.
The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 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$15.49
- 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$13.99
- Kroger, Knoxville, TN$14.99
- Kroger, Richmond, VA$17.99
- Fry's, Tucson, AZ$14.99
- QFC, Tacoma, WA$17.99
The regular price can vary by store and date.
From the producer
Mount Veeder winery
Hess Persson Estates says Donald Hess established the Hess Collection winery on Mount Veeder in 1978.
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 California.
California on the label is useful provenance but weak detail about place. For these wines, sourcing disclosure, blend construction and house-style consistency carry more decision value than a generic climate paragraph.
What the name means
A state-level appellation, broader than an individual American Viticultural Area. It permits a multi-region blend and does not by itself identify one climate or soil.
How grapes grow here
The state spans cool maritime zones and hot inland valleys. A California designation alone does not reveal which conditions shaped the fruit.
What lies under the vines
At state scale, sourcing and house-style construction matter more than any single soil story.
How large the region is
- Reusable question
- Which counties or AVAs supplied the blend, and did that mix change by release?
Places within the region
- Resolution limit
- County, AVA and vineyard claims begin only when the release names them.
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. 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.