The Best Summer Wines for 2026: Crisp, Fresh, and Ready to Chill
With the summer solstice already in the rearview mirror and 4th of July celebrations in full effect for America’s 250th birthday, I figured I should talk a little about some of the crispest, most refreshing wines in our selection. As a lover of white and rosé wines in general, I can’t get enough of wines that enliven the palate—wines that need nothing more than a little sunshine to pair with them. When the opportunity for some day drinking reveals itself, I like to be ready to roll. So let’s keep the fridge stocked, the cooler bag at the ready, and something zesty and refreshing always within arm’s reach.
What better way to kick off this section than with our very own Anonymous Sauv Blanc?
2025 Anonymous Wine Collective Oakville Sauvignon Blanc $24.95 (Elsewhere $60) This wine is depleting fast, but there should be enough left to get us into July and the heat of summer. This wine was blended by yours truly—with a small assist from a 100-point winemaker with a few decades of experience. The fruit is 100% estate-grown in the heart of Oakville. The various individual components were aged in different vessels, including concrete tank, stainless steel, seasoned oak puncheons, and terracotta amphora. Each component added its own character to the overall complexity of the blend, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the result. Each time I open a bottle of this wine, it’s even better than the last. This wine will no doubt be long sold out before it even hits its prime drinking window. For less than half its typical price point, it perfectly illustrates the power of the Anonymous brand to deliver small-production, artisanal wines from top-tier producers at bargain pricing.
Atlas Peak Vineyard.
2023 Acumen “Peak” Atlas Peak Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc $19.95 (Elsewhere $55) 94OB 94TP Another amazing deal in Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, this time from a single vineyard on Atlas Peak. Acumen’s estate Attelas Vineyard is home to a small block of Sauvignon Blanc that produces this powerful, concentrated, textural wine. The bottling is styled around classic white Bordeaux, with the juice fermented entirely in French oak barrels, 30% of which are new. The natural concentration of the mountain-grown fruit, combined with the added richness of barrel fermentation, means this wine is packed full of flavor and has a broad, full texture on the palate, beautifully balanced by vibrant acidity and stony mineral verve. I love how this wine dances between riper tropical fruit and zesty preserved citrus notes, all with a subtle hint of oak spice to frame it. This wine will also age beautifully for 5–10 years if you’re so inclined. Exceptional wine for a very modest price.
2023 DIRT “Mariah Estate Vineyard” Mendocino Ridge Sauvignon Blanc $24.95 94JD 94WE I was very impressed with the DIRT wines from Mariah Estate at a recent tasting in San Francisco. I had long known the vineyard from other wineries’ vineyard-designate bottlings. The vineyard is perched high on the Mendocino coast, over 2,000 feet above the Pacific, just a few miles away. DIRT, however, is a new label from the family that owns the estate. Husband and wife Michael and Nicole farm the vineyard and make the wines. As they took over from Nicole’s parents, who founded the vineyard, they have committed wholeheartedly to organic regenerative farming and a whole array of other purity and transparency measures to assess and record the impact of their farming. The wines are independently tested for purity against hundreds of potential contaminants. The entire project is fascinating and far more than I can even begin to cover here, but I will say the proof is in the pudding. The wines they’re producing, even in the inaugural vintages of the project, are stunning. There’s a depth of flavor, complexity, and resonating length on the palate here that is uncommon, to say the least. Check out these wines for something really exciting.
2024 Tatomer “Steinhugel” Santa Lucia Highlands Riesling $19.95 94VN OK, maybe I went a little crazy here and bought a big chunk of this wine…but it’s just SOOO GOOD! Graham Tatomer is a true master of aromatic whites, and I love his Steinhugel Riesling year after year. This single-vineyard wine comes from Estancia Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands near Monterey. The vineyard is home to mature vines planted in the 1970s. The name “Steinhugel,” or “rock cairn,” is in reference to the intensely rocky soils on the site—decomposed granite that has tumbled down from the Big Sur mountain ranges that tower over the vineyard. Some fruit is whole-cluster pressed and fermented cold in stainless steel; some is foot-trodden and given short skin contact before fermentation. The two wines are then combined to create a special kind of crushable deliciousness. It’s a dry wine, but not austere—the fruit is so crystalline and pure. Seriously, check this wine out. You will thank me for it!
2025 Pax “Helios” California Chenin Blanc $19.95 91-93VN Perhaps the runaway favorite and newest addition to the crushable white category this year. Pax’s Helios Chenin Blanc has been an absolute winner every time I’ve poured it for someone or recommended it to a customer. It’s close to perfect—and that’s saying something for a $20 bottle of Chenin Blanc. But seriously, it’s that good. The fruit is sourced 50% from Lyman Ranch in Amador County, 33% from Marine Terraces in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and 17% from Alder Springs Vineyard in northern Mendocino. It is whole-cluster pressed, native fermented, and aged for seven months in Austrian and French oak 500L puncheons and stainless steel barrels. Pax is incredibly aware of the need for great-value wines and has embarked on a mission to produce modestly priced bottlings that deliver excellent value for money without cutting corners on production. Sourcing fruit opportunistically, avoiding expensive new oak, and shortening the time it takes to get wines to market all help cut overhead costs. Judging by how well this Chenin Blanc and his 2025 Cuvée Syrah have been received by our staff and customers, I’d say he’s on to something. Incredible value for top-quality juice.
2025 La Marea “Kristy Vineyard” Monterey County Albariño $19.95 92DC A perennial favorite that just keeps going from strength to strength. It’s clear that winemaker Ian Brand just has this wine so dialed in. Every vintage is flat-out delicious. This wine now has a huge following and often sells out well before the new vintage is ready for release. A perfectly poised Albariño from a small vineyard overlooking the Salinas River, the vines grow in fractured marine shale and sand. The site is very windy and cool, preserving the grape’s abundant natural acidity. A third of the fruit is crushed and given two days on skins; the rest is whole-cluster pressed. Fermentation is in stainless steel, with no malolactic, followed by four months of aging on fine lees. Ever since I worked for Randall Grahm at Bonny Doon Vineyard almost 20 years ago, I have believed that Albariño can excel on California’s coast, and this is one of the best examples of just that.
2025 Zeitgeist “Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard” Russian River Valley Trousseau Gris $21.95 A very interesting and unique wine. Zeitgeist’s Trousseau Gris comes from one of the only plantings of this grape I’m aware of. Originating in the Jura, this truly esoteric grape is a natural mutation of Trousseau Noir with very light skin pigmentation. Planted in 1981, these mature vines grow in the Russian River Valley, surrounded by an ocean of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. However, this wine is more than a curiosity—it’s delicious. A real palate cleanser, the wine is razor sharp, crisp, and mouthwatering, with lots of citrus zest, wet stone, and chalk. Try it as a fun aperitif or with a Belgian endive, goat cheese, and citrus salad.
2024 Assiduous “Basor Vineyard” Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Gris $19.95 93JD Another go-to for me in the summer months is any of the wonderful white wines from Kegan Mayo at Assiduous. This year’s Pinot Gris is a single-vineyard designate from Basor Vineyard. This very cool site, just a few miles from Monterey Bay, produces a wonderfully salty, crisp, mineral-driven style of Pinot Gris. Kegan makes this wine in a deliberately bone-dry, more savory style, getting away from the fruitier styles of Pinot Gris you might find in Alsace. As the kelp on the label suggests, this wine is very reminiscent of an ocean breeze. Try it with oysters or even Dover sole for a real treat.
Matt Duffy, Sarah Vaughn and kids, owners of Vaughn Duffy Winery.
2025 Vaughn Duffy Sonoma County Rosé of Pinot Noir $16.95 I think Pinot Noir makes wonderful rosé, and this is a very fine example for a very modest price. This tiny-production wine from Vaughn Duffy perfectly captures the pristine Alpine strawberry and bright red berry fruit character of just-ripe Pinot Noir. The fruit has such purity and vibrancy. Matured in a combination of stainless steel and neutral oak, this wine has a tendency to disappear from your glass. Thankfully, it’s extremely well priced, so it’s probably best to make sure there’s a second bottle at hand, chilled down and ready to go!
2023 Ellsworth “Blouge” Nevada County Sierra Foothills Rosé $24.95 And to close out this newsletter, how about something really fun and unusual? At a recent tasting in San Francisco, I met a wonderful young couple following their dream to grow grapes and make wines from Nevada County in the Sierra Foothills near Grass Valley. The wines are very much non-interventionist, but not to worry—these are not failed science experiments or kombucha replacements. They’re delicious wines worthy of your attention.
The Blouge Rosé is made with a very unusual technique, resulting in a singularly brilliant wine. If you like the rosés of Clos Cibonne, Château Simone, or López de Heredia’s Gran Reserva Rosado, you should try this wine. It’s a complex, layered, ageworthy rosé composed of 60% Roussanne and 40% Mourvèdre from Beyers Lane Vineyard in Grass Valley. The site was planted in 2010 on decomposed granite soils. The Mourvèdre fruit was whole-cluster fermented with the pressed Roussanne juice in an open-top vat. The wine was then aged in neutral French oak for 23 months before bottling, unfined and unfiltered. The result is quite remarkable. There’s red fruit and dried rose petals, but also savory elements of dried herbs, salty Marcona almond, hints of olive brine, and wet granite. Such a complex wine. Try it with a good cheese and charcuterie board and an open mind. This is a very fun and thought-provoking wine.