6 Iconic California Wines You Need To Try At Least Once

As a California native, wine has always been a part of my life. My brother, Carter, has worked in the wine industry for years, while my mother taught me to never enter a dinner party without a decent bottle in hand. It was while I was studying for my minor in Italian wine enology and spending time filling up glasses as a sommelier in Italy that I truly began to understand what makes California wine culture so unique. During my studies, I brought my wine professor a bottle of 2020 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, and we did a blind taste test side-by-side with its French counterpart, 2020 Domaine de Chevalier Pessac-Leognan — and shockingly, at a table packed with European winemakers, the California red won with flying colors.

For generations, California has been producing award-winning bottles, although old-world winemakers and critics still overlook just how amazing some of these wines really are. From Napa Valley Chardonnays with an oaky influence and subtle hints of toast and caramel to delicious Cabernet Sauvignons dominated by juicy, dark fruit flavors, my home state shows the abundance and diversity it has to offer. So, whether you're looking to change your opinion on new world wines or hunting for your next favorite bottle, these six iconic California wines are a perfect place to start.

Famous for its rich and buttery flavor profile, Rombauer Chardonnay is one of the best-selling Chardonnays in the U.S. and recently secured a position on Wine.com's "Top 100 of 2025." It's regarded as a "cult classic," often ranking among the most purchased wines on the website. Beyond its buttery richness, the wine is often characterized by its intense peach and vanilla notes with an oak-forward presence. Alongside its delicious flavor, it's known for its lovely creamy, full-bodied, and opulent texture that's balanced by its high acidity, preventing it from feeling overly decadent. The acidic nature of the California Chardonnay makes it an excellent pairing alongside rich, creamy dishes, including lobster bisque, butter chicken, and this delicious recipe for Simple, Classic Bucatini Cacio E Pepe.

The wine is produced in the Carneros region, a cool climate American Viticultural Area (AVA) nestled in Northern California between the southern end of Napa and Sonoma valleys where wine experiences abound. The grapes benefit from the region's cool, wet winters coupled with low precipitation and warm summers — ideal growing conditions for Chardonnay. It's aged for nine months in a combination of new, 2- and 3-year-old American and French oak barrels, where it goes through malolactic fermentation, converting the sharp malic acid into soft lactic acid, providing the Chardonnay its signature oaky, buttery flavor.

Few California wineries have come to define the identity of Napa Valley's Cabernet production quite like Caymus. The renowned Cabernet has earned Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year titles in 1989 and 1994 and continues to cement itself as the state's most recognizable label. Produced by the Wagner family, this multi-generational Napa Valley winemaking family has been in the business since the early 1900s and churns out over a million cases (roughly 12 million bottles) annually across multiple brands and labels.

The Wagner family's generations of winemaking expertise are reflected through the iconic Cabernet Sauvignon, with its intense dark fruit flavor profile and lovely notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, and crème de cassis, balanced by a velvety texture and low, well-integrated tannins. These dry tannins soften rapidly, making the wine feel smoother rather than have a harsh puckering, sandpaper-like sensation. Its low tannins and depth of cocoa flavor are a clear indicator of its extended 16-month French oak aging process.

Its fruit-forward nature is designed to be enjoyed young and paired with protein-centered and high-fat dishes such as grilled bone-in ribeye, roasted duck breast, and braised short ribs. Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon is widely available at major wine retailers and liquor stores and is typically priced between $80 to $150 a bottle, depending on the vintage and bottle size.

Alongside Caymus, Screaming Eagle's Cabernet Sauvignon is often considered the gold standard of California's Cab production. Screaming Eagle produces only around 9,000 bottles a year, sometimes only 5,000, with a limited way of getting your hands on a bottle. Most people obtain it via an authorized retail store or by signing up for the winery's mailing list, though moving from the waiting list to the active list to be able to buy a bottle could take some time. That being said, the wine is ruthlessly hunted down by serious wine collectors, with some people spending upwards of $1,000 to $3,000 a bottle.

Being a New World wine, it was often viewed as quite rare for it to be such a strong collectible, but the intense dark fruit flavor profile and silky, polished texture have won wine critics over time and time again and has twice received a perfect 100-point rating by famous wine critic Robert Parker. The wine is often considered a "hedonistic" Napa Valley Cabernet, where it's defined by its maximum pleasure, rich texture, intense aroma, and high impact on the palate. Its lush notes of black currant and violet will surely win anyone over, and when paired alongside earthy, umami-forward dishes such as slow-roasted lamb shoulder or truffle risotto, the wine truly shines through.

Among the most highly prized red blends in the Golden State, The Prisoner Red Blend has led the revival by incorporating Zinfandel with an atypical mix of Petite Sirah, Merlot, Malbec, Syrah, and, of course, Cabernet Sauvignon. The Prisoner Wine Company is based in Napa Valley and uses grapes sourced from over 100 diverse growers to create its signature blend and many other delicious wines.

Mostly dominated by Zinfandel, the wine features prominent notes of raspberry, pomegranate, and vanilla coupled with hints of oak, cocoa, and cloves. On the nose, the blend is known for having an intense fruit-forward aroma and full-bodied, refined tannins that live up to the wine's crowd-pleasing reputation. The wine pairs extremely well with rich, savory dishes such as grilled steak, barbecue pork, braised short ribs, and meaty Italian pasta sauces such as Bolognese and ragù. So the next time you're whipping up this recipe for the juiciest lamb burger or this pastrami "French-ish dip" panini, try picking a bottle of The Prisoner Red Blend to pair with it.

Ranking as one of the world's most traded wines, Opus One was designed by Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild to bring old world craftsmanship to Napa Valley. The wine is made in a Bordeaux-style production, using the same traditional blending method and grape varieties as the region, creating a well-balanced and heavily structured wine. Its flavor profile encompasses dark chocolate, black currant, and blackberry with interwoven notes of cocoa, espresso, and violet. It has a creamy, silky texture provided by its well-integrated tannins with a long, elegant finish that will transport you to its originating region of France. Like many heavy Bordeaux-style wines, it's lovely alongside hearty dishes such as beef stew, mushroom-based pasta, and grilled lamb chops.

A 12-bottle case of Opus One sold at auction in 1981 for $24,000 — at the time, wine critics around the world viewed the winning bid as history-making since it was unheard of for California wine to sell at such a price. Since its first vintage in 1979, the wine has won countless accolades and is consistently ranked over 95 points by major wine critics.

Chateau Montelena Chardonnay is regarded as one of the most historically significant white wines in California winemaking history. In 1976, at a blind wine-tasting event later dubbed by a journalist from Time as the "judgment of Paris," its 1973 Chardonnay completely beat out the top white Burgundies from France. While to the average wine drinker this might not seem like a big deal, it shocked the entire wine world, pushing California wine production onto the global sphere and proving that a good bottle of Chardonnay doesn't have to come from France anymore.

Every bottle of Chateau Montelena Chardonnay tells a story, balancing a bright acidity with prominent notes of crisp green apple and citrus. Aged in French oak barrels for roughly 10 months, it has subtle notes of vanilla, hazelnut, and baked goods with a crisp, medium-bodied texture. Its slight influence of nuts and toasted bread makes the wine pair well with rich seafood dishes such as poached lobster, mussels and frites, and buttery seared scallops. While it might be hard to get your hands on its 1973 vintage, you can find its newer, younger vintages at wine stores and sometimes as part of Costco's amazing wine section. For the more budget-conscious, try these cheap wines sommeliers say you should be buying.