Far Niente Chardonnay 2019

WhiteUnited States2019

By Daniel Min · Tasted 2023-09-22 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30

In one paragraphFar Niente Chardonnay 2019 is a Chardonnay from Far Niente winery in Napa Valley, California. Far Niente was founded in Oakville in 1885 by John Benson, abandoned when Prohibition began in 1919, and revived by Gil Nickel in 1979. According to the winery, the first wine of the revived Far Niente was its 1979 Chardonnay; it still avoids malolactic fermentation to keep the grapes' natural acidity and sources fruit from volcanic-ash soils in Coombsville. On Vivino the 2019 averages 4.4 from 2,602 ratings; Wine-Searcher lists one critic review at 94 (Wine Enthusiast) and a world average of US$65 / 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). I gave it 4 stars in September 2023.

Far Niente Chardonnay 2019 bottle — my own photo, 2023.09 — Photo: Daniel Min, 2023.09 (Vivino log)

4.0

Father's rating / 5 ★★★★☆

4.4

Vivino 2019 vintage average (2602 ratings)

94 / 100 (Wine Enthusiast, Virginie Boone — one critic review on Wine-Searcher)

US$65

World average price (Wine-Searcher)

At a glance

Producer

Far Niente

Region

United States · California, Napa Valley

Grapes

100% Chardonnay

Alcohol

14.3% (Vivino)

Style

Full-bodied, oak-aged Napa Chardonnay (Vivino: Californian Chardonnay)

Drinking window (Vivino)

2022–2024

Food pairing

Pork, Vegetarian dishes, Poultry, Rich fish (salmon, tuna)

World average price

US$65 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher world average, ex-tax, Sep 2026) · overseas retail US$63 (Napa, US) to US$74.97 (Los Angeles, US); Hong Kong US$108.20

In one line

4.0/5 — lower than Vivino's 4.4 average · world avg price US$65 · A Napa stone winery founded in 1885 and abandoned for sixty years under Prohibition.

One critic review on Wine-Searcher: Wine Enthusiast (Virginie Boone), 94. Vivino shows no critic score.

Market note: World average US$65 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). Single bottles: US$63 in Napa and US$74.97 in Los Angeles (ex-tax), US$108.20 in Hong Kong. A magnum works out to US$60 per 750ml. The house's Cabernet Sauvignon is US$115 (92).

Father's note — Daniel Min

Original author of the notes

2023-09-22 4.0 ★★★★☆

“여러번 먹었었지만 오늘이 제일 맛있었다. … bottle shock 이 전혀 없어서 그런지 정말 둥글둥글하고 부드럽고 과실향 풍부하고 거의 완벽한 미국 샤도의 모습을 보여줬다. … 지금 생각해도 침이 고이는 맛이다.”

Tidied by Haru

Show original

“여러번 먹었었지만 오늘이 젤 맛있었다. […] bottle shock 이 전혀 없어서 그런지 정말 둥글둥글하고 부드럽고 과실향 풍부하고 거의 완벽한 미국 샤도의 모습을 보여줬다. […] 지금생각해도 침이 고이는 맛이다.”

Min Haru Aspiring sommelier Level 1 · Cork

OakTree fruitCitrusA memory from September, at twenty-five

In the scent column: 'butter (same as the toast), pear, melon, vanilla, a little lemon.' Next week I should bring bread from Mum's bakery.

Friday, and the bar was packed. For the first customers' snack, Master Seo buttered thick slices of bread and toasted them. All evening the smell of buttered toast drifted through the bar. He said he'd give me my glass after closing.

After midnight, once every customer had gone, Master Seo set a glass of white wine at my place. When I put my nose to it, the butter I'd been smelling all evening was there again. With it, ripe pear, melon, vanilla, a little lemon at the end. Round and soft. When the butter smell overlapped a second time, the breakfast table on a September morning, when I was twenty-five, opened.

Twenty-five, a Saturday morning in the fourth week of September. Dad, who'd come home late the night before, was buttering toast at the table. He stopped for a long moment with the butter knife in his hand, then said the white wine he'd drunk last night smelled exactly like this. Round and soft, full of fruit. He'd had that bottle many times, but last night it was the best. Then he took a bite of toast and laughed, saying his mouth still watered just thinking about it. I wasn't there, and I never saw the bottle. I don't know its name. I only remember the smell of toast that morning.

In the notebook, the day before had four lines. All four had short notes, and the last was the longest. He'd had it many times but today was the best. Perhaps because there was no bottle shock at all, it was round, soft and full of fruit. 'It showed the almost perfect face of American chardonnay.' Four stars. The bottle was Far Niente Chardonnay. I stuck on the wine-name Post-it. Turning back through the pages, I found the same name twice in the spring I was twenty-three — on page forty-seven's date, the night he came home with the broken cork. Probably Dad stopped his butter knife that morning because he'd found the taste again and had no glass in his hand.

When I'd finished the glass, Master Seo gave a quiz. Minjae, who'd stayed until closing, answered first.

Page fifty-two of the new notebook. In the scent column: 'butter (same as the toast), pear, melon, vanilla, a little lemon.' Next week I should bring bread from Mum's bakery.

Haru — Friday, after closing. The smell of buttered toast all evening — and butter again in the glass. — **Haru** Friday, after closing. The smell of buttered toast all evening — and butter again in the glass.

What this wine is

'Far Niente' comes from the Italian 'dolce far niente' — the sweetness of doing nothing. In the 1880s John Benson of San Francisco bought land in Oakville, Napa, and gave it that name. Wikipedia dates the founding to 1885; Wine with Seth says he bought the land in 1880 and completed a gravity-flow stone winery with the architect Hamden McIntyre in 1886.

When Prohibition began in 1919 the winery closed, and the building and vineyards were abandoned. For nearly sixty years it stood there, true to its name, doing nothing. In 1979 Gil and Beth Nickel bought the crumbling stone building and spent three years returning it to its nineteenth-century form. During the restoration, Wine Folly relates, they found 'Far Niente' carved into the stone of the facade. The same year the building was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.

The winery says the first variety the revived Far Niente grew and bottled was Chardonnay, beginning with the 1979 vintage (Wine with Seth dates the resumption of estate winemaking to 1982). Its Chardonnay does not go through malolactic fermentation, to keep the grapes' natural acidity. The fruit comes from volcanic-ash soils in Coombsville, below the Vaca Mountains east of the city of Napa (winery website).

Haru — Twenty-five, a Saturday morning in late September. Dad stopped, butter knife in hand. 'My mouth still waters.' — **Haru** Twenty-five, a Saturday morning in late September. Dad stopped, butter knife in hand. 'My mouth still waters.'

What the world says

Wine-Searcher lists one critic review: Virginie Boone of Wine Enthusiast gave it 94, noting how spicy oak and bright acidity complement each other. Vivino shows no critic score.

On Vivino the 2019 averages 4.4 from 2,602 ratings: 520 fives, 1,860 fours, 199 threes, 13 twos and ten ones. The label as a whole averages 4.4 from more than 24,000. The suggested drinking window is 2022–2024; I drank it right in the middle.

"Always a consistently great Chardonnay that embodies the classic Napa style." — Vivino review, Aug 2022, 4.5 stars

Oak (1,093), butter (1,070) and vanilla dominate the keywords, followed by pear (426), melon and apple; citrus (626) and lemon; minerals and honey; and cream (411). Structure shows intensity 4.7, acidity 2.9 and sweetness 2.3. For a house that skips malolactic fermentation, butter is still the first thing drinkers' noses find.

The world average is US$65 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). Overseas retail runs from US$63 in Napa to US$74.97 in Los Angeles, and US$108.20 in Hong Kong.

Minjae — Master Seo's quiz. Minjae: 'The house with nothing far away!' Seo: 'The sweetness of doing nothing.' — **Minjae** Master Seo's quiz. Minjae: 'The house with nothing far away!' Seo: 'The sweetness of doing nothing.'

How I drank it

September 22, 2023, 4 stars. I logged four lines that day: Paques et Fils Origine Brut Premier Cru 2014 (4.5), Domaine de la Pinte Trousseau Arbois 2018 (4.5, a pairing with conger eel and grains), Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Télégramme Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2020 (3.5), and this one.

This wasn't my first bottle. On April 27, 2022, the day I opened Château La Lagune 1970, I'd logged the same 2019 twice (4 both times). I'd had it many times, but this was the best. Perhaps because there was no bottle shock at all, it was round, soft and full of fruit. It showed the almost perfect face of American Chardonnay, and I wrote that my mouth still watered thinking about it.

And yet the score stayed at 4 — below the community's 4.4 and the critic's 94. Not raising the score even on 'the best day' probably means my yardstick for this bottle was set before that day's mood. I later gave the 2022 vintage a 4 too.

Haru — Page fifty-two. 'Butter (same as the toast), pear, melon, vanilla.' Next week, bread from Mum's bakery. — **Haru** Page fifty-two. 'Butter (same as the toast), pear, melon, vanilla.' Next week, bread from Mum's bakery.

Vivino community data

2019 vintage rating distribution (2602 ratings, average 4.4)

5★		520 (20%)
4★		1860 (71%)
3★		199 (8%)
2★		13 (0%)
1★		10 (0%)

Most-mentioned aromas

Family	Mentions	Top keywords
Oak	2841	oak 1093 · butter 1070 · vanilla 515 · caramel 41 · butterscotch 32
Tree fruit	1497	pear 426 · melon 313 · apple 298 · green apple 164 · peach 98
Citrus	1051	citrus 626 · lemon 193 · lemon zest 65 · lime 57 · grapefruit 48
Earth & leather	617	minerals 259 · honey 151 · stone 99 · earthy 22 · slate 12
Aging & yeast	569	cream 411 · banana 50 · oil 42 · cheese 29 · lemon curd 20

Structure: Acidity 2.9/5 · Intensity 4.7/5 · Sweetness 2.3/5

Average by vintage (all vintages: 24036 ratings, average 4.4)

Vintage	Average	Ratings
1991	4.4	76
1996	4.3	38
1997	4.5	35
2002	4.1	53
2003	4.5	31
2004	4.6	74
2005	4.4	55
2006	4.3	51
2007	4.3	180
2008	4.3	120
2009	4.2	141
2010	4.2	266
2011	4.3	387
2012	4.4	1071
2013	4.3	1004
2014	4.4	1311
2015	4.4	957
2016	4.4	1279
2017	4.4	2171
2018	4.4	3194
2019	4.4	2602
2020	4.3	1654
2021	4.3	1798
2022	4.2	773
2023	4.2	922
2024	4.2	171

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Frequently asked questions

What kind of wine is Far Niente Chardonnay?

A Chardonnay from Far Niente in Oakville, Napa Valley — founded in 1885, abandoned under Prohibition and revived in 1979. It skips malolactic fermentation and uses Coombsville fruit. The 2019 averages 4.4 on Vivino (2,602 ratings), with 94 from Wine Enthusiast.

How much does it cost?

Wine-Searcher's world average is US$65 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). Overseas retail: US$63–74.97 in the US, US$108.20 in Hong Kong.

What food goes with it?

The Vivino community suggests pork, vegetarian dishes, poultry and rich fish such as salmon. The producer recommends seared scallops in lemon-butter sauce or creamy seafood pasta.

What is 'bottle shock'?

A common name for the state in which a wine's aromas and flavours seem temporarily closed or muddled right after long transport or heavy vibration. People say a few days to a few weeks of rest brings it back. Its cause hasn't been clearly established scientifically.

Links & sources

View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher

Far Niente Chardonnay 2019

At a glance

In one line

Father's note — Daniel Min

What this wine is

What the world says

How I drank it

Vivino community data

2019 vintage rating distribution (2602 ratings, average 4.4)

Most-mentioned aromas

Average by vintage (all vintages: 24036 ratings, average 4.4)

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