Celebrating National White Wine Day with Dry Creek Vineyard
There are days when a glass of white wine is exactly what the occasion calls for.
Maybe it's a warm afternoon on the patio. Maybe dinner is something fresh off the grill. Maybe you're putting together a cheese board and looking for something that won't overpower everything on it. Or maybe, as is the case today, it's simply National White Wine Day. Whatever the reason, we're happy to have an excuse to open a couple of bottles.
For this year's celebration, we turned to a California winery with more than five decades of experience making white wine: Dry Creek Vineyard. Founded in 1972 in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley, the family-owned winery has played an important role in the history of the region—and particularly in the story of Sauvignon Blanc.
We recently opened two of its 2025 releases: the 2025 Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Creek Valley, and the 2025 Dry Chenin Blanc, Clarksburg. They're both white. They're both dry. They're both California wines. And that's about where the similarities end.
A California Winery That Took a Chance on White Wine
The history of Dry Creek Vineyard is worth knowing before pouring either bottle.
When David S. Stare founded the winery in 1972, the Dry Creek Valley wine industry was a very different place. Prohibition had left the region with little of its previous winemaking infrastructure, and Stare's decision to establish a winery there was, by most accounts, something of a leap of faith.
After studying civil engineering at MIT and earning an MBA from Northwestern, Stare developed an interest in wine while living in Germany. A 1970 trip to France, particularly the Loire Valley and Bordeaux, had an especially profound influence on him. Soon afterward, he headed for California with his wife and children and began working toward his new career in wine.
The winery's first property was a rundown 55-acre prune orchard across from the Dry Creek General Store. And then Stare did something particularly interesting. He planted Sauvignon Blanc. At the time, agricultural advisers told him that the variety wasn't appropriate for Dry Creek Valley. Stare planted it anyway. That decision would ultimately become one of the defining chapters in the history of both the winery and the appellation.
Dry Creek Vineyard also became the first new winery built in the Dry Creek Valley following Prohibition. The winery helped establish the region's identity as a serious winegrowing area and was instrumental in the effort that eventually led to Dry Creek Valley receiving official AVA status in 1983. In other words, Dry Creek Vineyard wasn't simply along for the ride as Sonoma County's wine industry developed.
More Than 50 Years Later, It's Still a Family Affair
Today, Dry Creek Vineyard remains family owned. We absolutely love that!
David Stare's daughter, Kim Stare Wallace, grew up around the winery and eventually returned to the family business after initially pursuing a career outside the wine industry. She became the winery's Director of Marketing in 1987, while her husband, Don Wallace, joined the operation in 1990. The second generation eventually took over the winery's leadership, with a renewed emphasis on smaller production, estate vineyards, sustainability and wines that reflect their specific growing regions.
That philosophy is reflected in the numbers. Dry Creek Vineyard currently farms 185 acres of estate vineyards, and the winery and estate vineyards are 100% Certified Sustainable.
The winery describes its approach as a "No Compromises" philosophy, but what stands out to us is the decision to stay relatively focused rather than chase sheer production volume. That matters when you're talking about wine. The goal isn't simply to make another bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc. It's to make a wine that has a reason for being there.
2025 Dry Creek Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc
Let's start with the more familiar of the two. Sauvignon Blanc has been part of Dry Creek Vineyard's DNA from the very beginning. In fact, the winery says founder David Stare planted the first Sauvignon Blanc vines in Dry Creek Valley in 1972, despite being advised against doing so.
Today, Sauvignon Blanc is one of the varieties most closely associated with the Dry Creek Valley, and Dry Creek Vineyard has continued to make it a central part of its portfolio. The 2025 Sauvignon Blanc pours a pale, inviting straw color.
On the nose, there's an immediate sense of freshness. Citrus leads the way, followed by tropical fruit and the sort of subtle green character that makes Sauvignon Blanc so recognizable without becoming overly grassy. Fresh spring floral bouquets join in the layered aromas.
On the palate, we found it bright and energetic, with citrus and fresh fruit carrying the wine from the first sip through the finish. There's a lovely herbaceousness you don't find in many Sauvignon Blancs, along with a welcoming spring-rain and wet-stone minerality that keeps the wine from becoming overly acidic.
There's enough acidity to keep things lively, but this isn't a wine that feels aggressively sharp. There's a little more body and texture here than you might expect from a simple, everyday Sauvignon Blanc. The finish is very long. We tasted this slightly chilled at 65° F, which is warmer than most people like. We have always felt a "warmer" white wine brings out more flavor characters.
This is Sauvignon Blanc with enough personality to drink on its own, but enough restraint to make it extremely useful at the dinner table. There was a lot of conversation around this bottle and our panel also picked up flavors of lemon cream, island fruits and beefsteak tomato. There's a LOT going on here!
This is an easy wine to bring to the table.
Think:
- Grilled shrimp
- Fresh oysters
- Lemon-herb chicken
- Grilled vegetables
- Sushi
- Goat cheese
- Summer salads
- Fish tacos
- A simple charcuterie board
And honestly, it doesn't need much food at all. A chilled glass on the patio would be enough.
Our take: If Sauvignon Blanc is already one of your go-to white wines, this is an easy recommendation. If you've found some Sauvignon Blancs to be overly grassy, excessively tart or one-dimensional, Dry Creek Vineyard's 2025 version is worth trying for a more rounded interpretation.
ABV: 13.5%
Winery: Dry Creek Vineyard
Dry Creek Valley AVA
Suggested retail price: $26.00
Drink The Bottles score: 92/100
2025 Dry Creek Vineyard Dry Chenin Blanc
Now we get to a whole different conversation. Because if Sauvignon Blanc is the variety most people expect to see on a California wine list, Chenin Blanc is the bottle that might make them stop and ask a question. And that's precisely why we like it.
Dry Creek Vineyard has been making Dry Chenin Blanc since its first vintage in 1972. The winery's love of the grape goes directly back to David Stare's affection for the Loire Valley, where Chenin Blanc has been an important variety for centuries. There's an impressive bit of history attached to this wine.
Dry Creek Vineyard produced its 50th consecutive vintage of Chenin Blanc in 2022, and the winery describes itself as the only American winery to have produced 50 consecutive vintages of Chenin Blanc. That's not a passing interest. That's definitely a huge commitment.
The 2025 bottling comes from Wilson Ranch in Clarksburg, a region south of Sacramento that has become increasingly associated with Chenin Blanc. Current winery materials identify it as a single-vineyard wine, and recent coverage notes that Dry Creek Vineyard has maintained a remarkably consistent dry, high-acid style with this wine.
This is where Chenin Blanc gets fun.
The wine has an appealing pale-gold appearance, and the nose moves in a different direction than the Sauvignon Blanc.
Instead of immediately shouting citrus and tropical fruit, there's a softer, more aromatic quality. Think orchard fruit, juicy melon, vibrant citrus fruits and floral notes. On the palate, however, the acidity comes alive without becoming aggressive. This is a dry Chenin Blanc—not sweet, not syrupy, and not a dessert wine masquerading as something else.
It's crisp and refreshing, but there's also a pleasing roundness to the fruit. It can be simultaneously bright and textured, fruity and dry, refreshing and surprisingly complex. The 2025 wine is also a particularly good example of why we think Chenin Blanc deserves more attention from American wine drinkers. It's not trying to be Sauvignon Blanc and it doesn't need to be.
Chenin Blanc has been experiencing something of a resurgence among American wine drinkers and sommeliers. The variety offers a remarkable range of styles, but its natural acidity makes dry versions especially versatile with food.
While everyone else is rediscovering Chenin Blanc, Dry Creek Vineyard can basically say: We've been here the whole time. And perhaps that's the best reason to try this bottle.
Try it with:
- Grilled salmon
- Roast chicken
- Pork tenderloin
- Thai food
- Vietnamese dishes
- Spicy Asian cuisine
- Soft cheeses
- Seafood
- Salads with fruit
- Charcuterie
It's also an excellent choice when you're serving several different dishes and don't want the wine fighting with the food. The acidity keeps it refreshing, while the fruit gives it enough personality to stand up to more flavorful dishes. We enjoyed this one also at about 65° F, slightly chilled.
ABV: 12.0%
Winery: Dry Creek Vineyard
Clarksburg AVA
Suggested retail price: $19.00
Drink The Bottles score: 91/100
The Dry Creek Vineyard Difference
What makes these two wines particularly interesting together isn't simply that they're both white wines. It's the history behind them.
David Stare took a chance on Sauvignon Blanc in 1972 when others told him not to plant it. He also brought his affection for Loire Valley wines to California and made Dry Chenin Blanc part of the winery's identity from its earliest days.
More than five decades later, both wines remain part of the portfolio. That's a pretty compelling testament to staying the course.
Dry Creek Vineyard has evolved, of course. The second generation has taken the reins, the vineyards are sustainably farmed, and the winery has refined its focus on appellation-driven wines. But the underlying philosophy hasn't changed much:
Make wines that reflect where they're grown, take care of the land, and don't chase trends simply because they're trends. That's something we can get behind.
Our Final Pour
National White Wine Day is a pretty good excuse to remind ourselves that white wine isn't one particular thing. It can be crisp and citrusy, tropical and aromatic, floral, textured and mineral-driven and anything in between.
And sometimes, the most interesting bottle isn't the one we've heard of a hundred times. It's the one that makes us stop and say, "Why haven't I been drinking more of this?"
For us, the 2025 Dry Creek Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc and 2025 Dry Chenin Blanc demonstrate exactly why exploring beyond the usual suspects can be worthwhile. One is a California classic that has been part of Dry Creek Vineyard's story since the beginning.
The other is a wonderfully persistent reminder that sometimes the best way to discover what's next is to look at what someone has been doing right all along.
Both of these bottles are worthy additions to the National White Wine Day table. And if you're only going to open one?
Well...
We'd suggest opening both.
After all, it's National White Wine Day. We think that's allowed. Cheers!
