The difference between good wine and great wine? As anyone might guess, it all comes down to the variety of the grapes. Chardonnay, according to California Wines, is the most widely planted blends in California.

Grower and vineyard owner Kevin Harvey, however, makes a point to plant carricante, nerello mascalese, and nebbiolo, Italian grapes that are rarely grown outside of their native environment, but that make for high quality wine. As Harvey shared with The New York Times, all it took was a trip to Italy to convince him to bring the varieties to California.