The World’s Best Chardonnays 2026

The best Chardonnay comes from Burgundy, right? Right?

Well, not necessarily. A look at our highest-scoring Chardonnays suggests that if you want the very best expressions this grape has to offer, Sonoma might be the place to start.

But first, let’s take a look at Chardonnay and its place in the global wine market. Possibly its best trick is demonstrating its uncanny ability to move in two directions at once. The market is splitting: fine Chardonnay is rising in price and interest, while everyday Chardonnay loses share to Sauvignon Blanc and “fresher” whites.

The dichotomy is clear, looking at the various channels. The US is the largest market by far, and its Wine-Searcher Chardonnay searches are up 82 percent in four years. That’s a lot of interest. South Korea is the fastest-growing major market (up 76 percent), while UK, Hong Kong and Chinese interest is falling.

However, US retail Chardonnay sales slipped slightly faster than wine overall in 2025. Overall, wine sales fell 5 percent in value and 6 percent in volume off-premise, according to NIQ. On-premise, Chardonnay dollar sales were only up 1.4 percent in the year to March 2024, against 6.2 percent for Sauvignon Blanc.

Nevertheless, there is still plenty of interest for Chardonnay, especially at the top end. Looking at Wine-Searcher’s database, in five years to October 2026, offers were up 54 percent to 847,000, led by French listings, which doubled. Like-for-like prices rose 19 percent, but only 1.3 percent in the past year. The median listed price globally is up 60 percent to $64 as the offer mix moved towards Burgundy.

Searches since 2019 rose by an impressive 75 percent to 27.1 million a year, and what’s pushing that is the increase in quality; average aggregated critic scores for Chardonnay rose by 1.3 points by vintage (2016–2023), faster than wine overall.

The outlook is pretty clear: everyday Chardonnay volume will keep sliding, with California oversupply weighing on bulk prices. Premium and fine Chardonnay should stay firm; French Chardonnay offers, driven by Burgundy, have doubled in the past five years and median prices rose by 64 percent. However, overall Chardonnay price growth slowed appreciably in 2026.

In a turbulent global market, Chardonnay is still holding its own, despite the challenge from lighter white styles, sparkling and rosé wines, particularly when it comes to quality.

As mentioned above, average Chardonnay scores rose at 1.3 points between the 2016 and 2023 vintages, while the correpsonding rise for all wines was at 1.1 points. For Chardonnay, the 90-plus scores rose dramatically: in 2016, 59 percent of all Chardonnays had scores of 90 or more; by 2023, that share had risen to 77 percent. US Chardonnay rose the most, shifting the averagve score from 89.9 to 91.9, overtaking France (90.8). Australia – yes, Australia – leads at 92.2.

Those rising scores are relative, however, and the result of warmer vintages and possibly an element of grade inflation. The 2024 and 2025 vintages haven’t been fully scored yet, so they might still change the narrative, although that’s unlikely given the general increase in warmer temperatures.

So what are this year’s best Chardonnays? Let’s take a look.

Probably the most surprising thing about that list is that it does not consist entirely of wines from Burgundy. After all, when you imagine the best of Chardonnay, it’s usually the Côte de Beaune that springs to mind rather than the dusty foothills of northeastern Victoria’s Beechworth.

But this year’s collection of outstanding Chardonnays contains just four entries from the patrician end of Burgundy, with the rest made up of Californians and a single Aussie. That’s one place less than Burgundy managed the last time we ran the best Chardonnay list and, despite the increase in Burgundy offers, it looks like other regions are now elbowing their way to the forefront of critics’ minds.

Sonoma has a long-standing reputation for Chardonnay and that’s bolstered by its dominance of this year’s list.

What’s also noticeable is that, while the non-Burgundy wines are in the majority, all the wines on the list are aiming very firmly at Burgundian levels of price. While one wine does come in below the $200 global average ex-tax price (at time of writing the Aubert Eastside Chardonnay from Russian River Valley sits at $198), the rest are all definitely reaching for the stars, even if they aren’t quite hitting the five-figure price tag of DRC.

Chardonnay might be facing a two-tier future, as those at the bottom end of the market find themselves in a cut-throat fight for survival in the face of Sauvignon’s retail surge, but for the top end, the weather is set fair and the seas are much less choppy.

For consumers, that means there will be bargains ahead; but consumers and retailers will also be bouyed by the inescapable fact that, when it comes to Chardonnay, the good wine just keeps getting better.