If you've written off Chardonnay because of buttery California bombs or overdone barrel-aged whites, this bottle is your intervention. Tenuta Mazzolino's Camara Chardonnay comes out of Oltrepò Pavese — a Lombardy appellation tucked where Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, and the Po River plain converge — and it tastes nothing like what most people picture when they hear the grape's name.
Mazzolino farms estate vineyards in the clay and limestone hills south of Pavia, where cool nights and sharp diurnal swings lock acidity into the fruit before harvest. The winemaking philosophy is get out of the way: native-yeast fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel, no malolactic conversion, no batonnage, no oak. Zero. The result is a wine built entirely on transparency — fruit, mineral, and the kind of nervous energy that only cool-climate limestone terroir produces.
Oltrepò Pavese has actually been a Chardonnay stronghold since the nineteenth century, when the varietal first arrived in Italy. Mazzolino honors that history by refusing to dress it up. The wine is named Camara after the estate's historic cellar, and there's something fitting about that — old walls, minimal intervention, wine that speaks for itself.
The nose is aromatic and precise — sage, lemongrass, grapefruit pith, golden apple, with a bright fermentative lift that signals ripe fruit caught before it ever turns tropical. On the palate it's linear and taut, built around a core of stone fruit that the wine's high-wire acidity keeps in constant check. The finish has real length and snap. This is not a wine you sink into — it's a wine that wakes you up.
Buy this if you love Chablis but want something a little more expressive. Buy it if you're bored with Pinot Grigio but don't want to commit to a full-throttle white Burgundy. Buy it if you're feeding a crowd this summer and need something crowd-pleasing, food-friendly, and not embarrassingly cheap. It works for all of the above.
Grilled branzino is the obvious move — the acidity mirrors the sea salt and olive oil, and the citrus notes echo any lemon you squeeze over the fish. But don't sleep on roasted chicken with herbs or a weeknight risotto alla milanese. The wine's acidity cuts through the butter and fat and resets your palate with every sip. It's the kind of white that makes dinner feel effortless.
Tenuta Mazzolino Camara Chardonnay is available for in-store pickup at 1128 W Armitage Ave in Lincoln Park. At $24, stocking up is the right call.
Shop now →