Worth a Splurge Wine: The Winemaker Who Beat the French.

This month’s Worth A Splurge Wine is the 2008 Grgich Hills Chardonnay. Grgich Hills was the dream of Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, a native of Croatia who emigrated to the US in 1958 and ultimately became the winemaker at Chateau Montelena in the early 1970’s—just in time for that winery’s shocking victory in the afore-mentioned Judgment in Paris in 1976. The 2008 Grgich Hills Chardonnay is a wonderful, full-bodied chard that the Connoisseur’s Guide awarded a 91 rating. It is widely available for about $40 per bottle. This nuanced white wine might just change the mind of red wine fans which have had WAY too much bad Chardonnay.