The most successful wines seemed rich enough to accommodate the natural acidity without being dominated by it, Christy said. They were also marked by the graceful integration of oak flavors. Some of the wines that did not make our top 10 were clumsily oaky.

Our top wine was the 2015 La Source from Evening Land, lively and energetic, while also rich and nimble. Evening Land had a change of ownership a few years ago, after which Mr. Lafon left to work with Lingua Franca. It is now run by Rajat Parr, a sommelier and author, and Sashi Moorman, a winemaker, who are also the team behind Sandhi and Domaine de la Côte in the Santa Rita Hills in California.

Our second pick was the 2015 Willamette Valley from Adelsheim, one of the pioneers of the modern Oregon wine industry. The chardonnay was tense, well-balanced and savory — not a complicated wine, but a satisfying one. And, at $22, it was also our best value. Rounding out the top echelon was the 2015 Ribbon Ridge Cascadia from Brick House, lively and stony, with flavors of herbs and lemon.

In the fourth spot was the 2015 Cuvée Lunatique from J. Christopher, a producer whose main focus is on single-vineyard pinot noirs. As the name indicates, it is an unpretentious wine, just $17 and intended to be fresh, vibrant and uncomplicated. Needless to say, it succeeds quite well.

We also very much liked the tightly coiled, herbal 2016 Stoller from the Dundee Hills, the floral 2014 Lemelson Reserve and the rich, well-textured 2015 Morgen Long Yamhill Vineyards from the Yamhill-Carlton district.

It’s important to point out that our tasting offered a cross-section of the bottles that were available in local retail outlets. It did not include wines that are made in minute quantities or bottles that are in high demand like Lingua Franca, Antica Terra or some other cuvées from Walter Scott that I have preferred over the Freedom Hill bottling, the No. 8 wine on our list, which was rich and lively but straightforward — “foursquare,” as the Brits might say.

We also did not have bottles from some of Oregon’s earliest and still best producers, like Eyrie and Bethel Heights. Several, though not all, of our top 10 wines were entry-level bottles. The point is that our list does not suggest that our favorites are the best Oregon chardonnays. They were simply our favorite bottles in a representative tasting, indicating Oregon’s direction with the grape.