Rombauer Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc California White Wine

Begin with a year: 1980. By the winery's own account, that is when Koerner and Joan Rombauer established Rombauer Vineyards. It stays a fact about the company, not about the grapes in any one bottle of this California Sauvignon Blanc.

The grape is Sauvignon Blanc, and guides to it describe a white wine built on clear aroma and refreshing acidity. The flavors those guides list run to citrus, green herbs and gooseberry, and they note that cooler vineyards can push the green and citrus side while warmer, riper fruit can lean tropical. Those are the category's usual notes, not a promise about this bottle.

The sample is small so far, only 1 shopper score, and that score, 2 out of five, sits well below the 4.71 median across the 483 rated wines we track. In our September 2026 checks the lowest price we recorded for it was $29.99.

The highest we found, across nine stores in those same September 2026 checks, was $42.99. For the taste itself, guides to Sauvignon Blanc keep returning to its refreshing acidity.

This Sauvignon Blanc draws from two very different California climates by the producer's own account, sunny Napa Valley and cooler Sonoma sites blended together, and the current page calls the finished wine “light, bright, fruit-forward” with tropical notes and subtle green hints, under the producer's own tagline for it, “Sunshine in a glass!” The brand's winemaking page adds one production detail beyond that: about 10 percent of the wine sees time in oak, with the rest finished in stainless steel or neutral vessels. Recent vintages have drawn outside notice too, 90 points from Wine Spectator for the 2021 and from Wine Enthusiast for the 2020, and 91 points from Wine Enthusiast for the 2019; the current page does not state alcohol, harvest dates or an exact blend percentage.

Our call: this is a pick only for a shopper drawn to the producer's Napa-and-Sonoma sourcing story and the run of 90-plus critic scores in recent vintages, because the shopper side of the record does not back it up yet. Pass if you weigh ratings at all; 1 shopper rating has reached our record, a 2 out of five, below the 4.71 median across the wines we track, and one score from one taster is too small a sample to lean on either way.

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