10 of Our Favorite White Wines to Try Right Now

Embark on a global tour of classic styles and unexpected delights

Crisp. Drinkable. Refreshing. A good white wine is all of these things, which makes it the perfect choice for summertime. But a great white wine isn’t simply quaffable - it can be complex and exhilarating, too, elevating your dining experience and introducing you to sensations you’ve never felt before.

Hand-selected by Dave Mattern, Truluck’s Beverage Director, these exquisite wines invite you to explore and experiment, starting with familiar varietals and branching out to more far-flung corners of the wine-producing world. We’ve made them available by the glass as well as the bottle, making it easy to sample and pair with your favorite snack or entrée.

While each wine is unique, a vibrant and distinct expression of a beloved style, all of them pair wonderfully with the ocean’s finest seafood. Dive in and discover something extraordinary.

Key Takeaway

Truluck’s offers 10 white wines hand-selected by Beverage Director Dave Mattern, spanning Champagne, Spanish Albariño, French and California Sauvignon Blanc, Croatian Pošip, white Rioja, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, and California Chardonnay. Every wine on the list is available by the glass and by the bottle, and each is paired with a Truluck’s seafood dish, from oysters and stone crab to king crab, scallops, and sea bass.

Delamotte, Brut, 1.5L, Champagne

First off, we pour this gorgeous Champagne from a magnum, tableside. How fun! Stylistically this is just about as elegant as it gets. Delicate freshness and flavors of citrus and honey are all lifted by a mineral backbone. Fabulous with our first courses and crab, but also refined enough to drink as a cocktail. So, just sit and chat for twenty minutes while sipping on this and unwind from the day while you work up an appetite.

🍷Pairs well with: Friends

Albariño de Fefiñanes, Spanish White

I couldn’t resist…Bodegas del Palacio de Fefinanes is the OG Albariño producer. The grapes for the Albariño come from old vines… some up to 100 years old, grown in the Salnés Valle in Rias Baixas. Also, the soils, high rainfall, and ocean mists help to produce wines with bright acidity and distinct salinity. This Albariño is dry, oceanic and fascinatingly delicious. I put it on the menu to turn your oyster experience from great to “earth shatteringly amazing”.

🍷Pairs well with: Oysters

La Ponca, Sauvignon Blanc, Collio, Italy

I am in love with Italian Sauvignon Blanc from Collio. These wines rival the best Sancerres and Bordeaux Blancs and La Ponca is no exception.

James Suckling wrote something I quite like about this wine, “Notes of salted lemons, spiced pears, freshly cut herbs and white roses. Sleek and juicy on the palate with a medium body. Crunchy and citrusy. (Made) From organically grown grapes. Drink now.” Well yes, I think I will, with a Caesar salad and a sweet and spicy grouper.. yum!

🍷Pairs well with: Caesar Salad and Sweet and Spicy Grouper

Summer Dreams, Walking on Venice Beach

This wine is another addition from our good friend Jayson Woodbridge of Hundred Acre fame. He’s making this Sauvignon Blanc from one of the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vineyards in California nestled in the hills of the Sonoma Coast. It’s hard to beat Jayson’s description: “Bright and lifted, the Walking on Venice Beach Sauvignon Blanc opens with aromas of white grapefruit, mandarin oil, lime blossom, passionfruit cream, yuzu, and makrut lime. The palate is crystalline and precise, with wet river stone minerality layered alongside jasmine and citrus blossom, framed by a very light herbal edge.” “There is a magical and zesty energy!” Yes! This is great wine for King Crab.

🍷Pairs well with: King Crab

Joseph Mellot, Reuilly Blanc, Les Millets, Sauvignon Blanc, Loire, France

Good Sancerre is getting more and more rare and certainly more and more expensive. So far, I have had a rule to avoid French Sancerre alternatives such as Pouilly-Fumé (mostly because people just want Sancerre whatever the price). Well, I’m breaking my own rule here because this bottling from Joseph Mellot is next level.

Reuilly is an appellation in the Loire just 52 miles west of Sancerre and what makes it different from many other French Sancerre alternatives is that Reuilly and Sancerre share prized, ancient Kimmeridgian limestone soils. This shared geology is why Reuilly’s Sauvignon Blanc is often compared to Sancerre, sometimes even considered a hidden gem that offers better value. Have a glass of this with King Crab and you will see what I mean… it is killer!

🍷Pairs well with: Oysters, Prime King Crab, Stone Crab, Fish

Korta Katarina, Pošip, Croatia

Let’s go to Croatia… seriously gorgeous stretch of the Adriatic Coast across the water from the east coast of Italy…and great wine to boot…. Sign me up! Dalmatia is a premier, historic wine region stretching along Croatia’s coast from Zadar to Dubrovnik, characterized by a sunny Mediterranean climate, rocky limestone soils, and steep, sea-facing vineyard slopes.

The region is celebrated for its 3,800-year winemaking tradition and its focus on indigenous grape varieties. Korta Katarina’s best white wine is made with one of those indigenous varieties… Pošip; their premier white grape, offering aromatic, full-bodied wines with notes of stone fruit and citrus. How fun! This replaces our Greek white as a fun discovery wine… you will love this beauty!

🍷Pairs well with: Stone Crab, Prime King Crab, Fish

R. López de Heredia, Viña Gravonia

R. Lopez de Heredia is an iconic Rioja producer, one of the OG five in the railyard district in Haro, with Lopez being the oldest dating back to 1877. This bottling, Vina Gravonia is made from 100% viura, the backbone of all great white Riojas. R. Lopez de Heredia has exceptionally large, historic underground cellars that are famous for their depth and traditional aging, often described as a Cathedral to wine. The main gallery of the “El Calado” (underground cellar) is 215 meters long, dug directly into the rock 15 meters below ground.

The cellars provide a stable environment for aging their wines for 3 to 10 years, and sometimes up to 20 years, before release. They have an insane number of bottles and barrels aging in every nook and cranny of their cellar. This fabulous white has been aged in barrel for 4 years then bottled and aged for 10 more in their cellars. I love the description on their technical sheet: “Fruity, complex, developed, very fine…” this understated description is their attempt not to steal your joy in experiencing the amazing flavors in this bottle. This might be the perfect pairing with scallops.

🍷Pairs well with: South African Cold-Water Lobster Tail, Scallop & Shrimp Sauté

L’Oratoire des Papes, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc

Ask a Sommelier what their favorite white wine is and invariably they will say Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc! Beautiful color with slight green glimmers. The nose is very expressive and oscillates between small exotic fruits, floral notes and white fruits.

The palate has the generosity of a sunny vintage, which is expressed by a gentle sweetness but largely tempered by their limestone soils which bring a tension, salinity and a subtle tartness to the finish. Great wine for Seabass.

🍷Pairs well with: Seabass

Au Bon Climat, Santa Barbara, Chardonnay

For the last 44 years, Au Bon Climat has been crafting balanced, long-lived, food-friendly Chardonnays. Even during the early 2000s, when ripe, oaky Chardonnays were in vogue, they adhered to a more subtle and refined style, emphasizing minerality, acidity, and intensity.

A bouquet of citron, apple blossom, and chamomile culminate in fresh floral notes on the nose. Bright acidity and flavors of grapefruit and baker’s yeast make this wine a joy to drink now and a versatile option for food pairing. Perfect with our Miso Glazed Sea Bass and Lobster.

🍷Pairs well with: Miso Glazed Sea Bass, Lobster

Merryvale, Chardonnay, Napa

Merryvale is an awesome Napa winery… Rene Schlatter’s wines have been on our menu for 25 years and I’ve never stopped thinking the wines were amazing. This Napa Chardonnay is a world-beater… it is sourced from their Estate blocks on the historic Stanly Ranch, the 2020 Carneros Chardonnay is the best example of everything great from the region.

Bright acidity, savory salinity, layered complexity, and luscious mouthfeel all converge in this bottle. Again, this one begs for Scallops and Lobster.

🍷Pairs well with: Scallops and Lobster

Try all 10 and you’ll be sure to find a new favorite that evokes and enhances the perfect summer moment. Your table is waiting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What white wine pairs best with king crab?

Truluck’s pairs king crab with bright, mineral-driven Sauvignon Blanc, including Summer Dreams Walking on Venice Beach from the Sonoma Coast and Joseph Mellot Reuilly Blanc from the Loire Valley. Crisp acidity and stone-driven minerality in these Sauvignon Blancs balance the natural sweetness and richness of king crab.

What white wine pairs best with oysters?

Truluck’s recommends Albarino de Fefinanes, a dry and saline Albarino from Rias Baixas in Spain, as the ideal white wine for oysters. The bright acidity and oceanic salinity of Albarino mirror the briny character of freshly shucked oysters.

Does Truluck’s serve white wine by the glass?

Truluck’s serves every wine on this list by the glass as well as by the bottle, making it easy to sample different styles across courses. Guests can pair a single glass with an appetizer or first course and move to a different pour with the entree.