Four Okanagan and Island Chardonnays worth the price as B.C. winemakers let the vineyard lead

The Bartier Bros. Chardonnay 2025 from Oliver costs $25.99, the cheapest of four B.C. Chardonnays Anthony Gismondi recommends this week. It is unoaked, spends four months in stainless steel, and shows crunchy pear, green apple and a saline finish, scoring 89.

Gismondi says the best B.C. producers are now stepping back from oak and winemaking intervention and letting the vineyard do the talking. At Naramata Bench's Foxtrot Vineyard, winemaker Jacqueline Kemp is removing old wood from the original vines to renew them, and she is exploring "the relationship between the vine and the microbial life in the soil" to strengthen the link between vine and site. The Foxtrot Luminous Chardonnay 2025, $40, sees no oak at all. It ferments in a porcelain egg and rests eight months on its lees, and Gismondi scored it 91 out of 100, calling it almost Chablis-like in texture.

The Clos du Soleil La Côte Vineyard Chardonnay 2025 from the Similkameen Valley, $29.90 and 91 points, takes the other route, aged in older wood with depth and a twist of wild desert scrub. Gismondi says it is a Chablis-style wine and that he agrees with a fellow taster on that.

On Vancouver Island, the Unsworth Vineyards 2023 Chardonnay at $35.90 is the one Gismondi says may be the best the region has produced, with a cool, crisp coastal style. The Blue Grouse Chardonnay 2024 from the Cowichan Valley, $32.99 and 89 points, uses only 13 per cent new oak and carries bright coastal salinity through the finish.

Gismondi's point is that oak, lees and malolactic fermentation are now labels rather than flavours, and that B.C.'s latitude gives producers an edge in freshness. Next week he moves beyond B.C. to look at Chardonnay in the rest of the wine world.