(Wine-Searcher) - California has always been about the excitement of the new, and not just in wine. We've got new technologies! New laws! New religions!

It's easy to forget the appeal of the untrendy: longtime businesses that deliver good quality. This is really true for restaurants. It's much harder to get a table at a hot new place than at a bistro that has been open for five years. It's also true for California wine, regardless of what style you like. People who prize ripeness are always chasing the latest tiny-production reserve Cabernet, while those seeking complexity want to hear how cold and close to the ocean the vineyard is.

Here are nine California wineries that have a long track record of success, but for different reasons have been under the radar lately. If you haven't had their wine in a while – or perhaps ever – it's time to revisit.

Chappellet

Pritchard Hill isn't an AVA, but it is the priciest Napa hotspot. Three wines from fairly new wineries sold for more than $1000 a bottle at 2014 Premiere Napa Valley. Donn Chappellet was the modern Pritchard Hill pioneer, buying his vineyard in 1967 when there were few plantings nearby. The second generation is now in charge, and Phillip Corallo-Titus has been winemaker since 1990. I've always liked Chappellet wines in blind tastings. Robert Parker came on board in October, giving 2012 Chappellet Pritchard Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 99+, the highest score he's ever given the winery.

Frog's Leap

The original critter wine! When Frog's Leap released its first wine in 1982, the name was so funny that New York Times wine critic Terry Robards wrote a snide story – without, apparently, tasting the wine. Founder/winemaker John Williams was the only employee of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars for three years in the mid-1970s before becoming winemaker at Spring Mountain Vineyards. Frog's Leap was his side project, created with Larry Turley on a former frog farm. Williams was one of the first vintners in California to go organic, and is still one of the few to dry farm. If you want to find the taste of the famous Rutherford dust (I think it's mostly a myth), try Frog's Leap Estate Rutherford Cabernet, which has the characteristic fresh-herb notes that are sadly missing from most California Cabs today.

Hanzell

If I could choose only one winery for this column, it would be Hanzell. For a winery that has made some of the country's best Chardonnay (and excellent Pinot Noir) for 60 years, it's surprising how little press Hanzell gets. The most was in 2003, when Wine Spectator exposed it as infested with TCA. Wealthy English owner Alexander De Brye spent $500,000 to get rid of the problem, and Hanzell returned to quiet excellence. For 40 years, Hanzell has used a hands-off, vineyard-driven approach, and the wines are balanced, complex and elegant. I've had this experience several times: Hanzell is everyone's favorite at a blind tasting, or the standout at an everyone-brings-a-bottle party. Try it and see.

Pride Mountain Vineyards

Pride's estate vineyard, Summit Ranch, is atop Spring Mountain and the Napa/Sonoma County line runs through it. The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, says "60-percent Napa County, 40-percent Sonoma County," but it's not a blend. Pride makes 20,000 cases a year of wines, mostly what Napa is famous for, like Cab and Merlot. You couldn't ask for more unique terroir, and the wines are rich without being overripe.

Saintsbury

The average marriage in the United States, including those that end in death and divorce, lasts 27 years. Take that as perspective for the business partnership of David Graves and Richard Ward, who founded Saintsbury in 1981. They focused on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Carneros, which was trendy through the 1990s and out of fashion today. In 2013 they finally looked west of Carneros for sources from

Anderson Valley and the Sonoma Coast. In 2013, Parker wrote: "One of the pioneers of high-quality Pinot Noir from Carneros, Saintsbury continues to roll along doing the same thing they have done for over three decades."

Jordan

Jordan always does well in restaurant polls. So how is it under the radar? Two groups of critics never give Jordan any love: 100-point-scalers, who don't find the wines awesome enough, and modern kool-kids, who don't think they're edgy. You know why I love Jordan? It only makes two wines: an estate Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Russian River Valley Chardonnay. No reserve wines, single-block wines, or anything else that keeps the best grapes out of the main wines. That's really unusual in California. Also, we're always writing about something new, but there's nothing new at Jordan. The winery was founded in 1972 and has had one winemaker, Rob Davis, for its entire history. The wines are good every year, and you always get the best wine they make.

Stony Hill

Dr. Ed Planz, an Alabama surgeon whose wine collection sold in December for $4.4 million, had 1700 bottles of Stony Hill Chardonnay and Riesling dating to the early 1970s. But the auction house didn't want to bring them to New York because it was afraid they wouldn't sell. Planz was surprised: "They're probably the best white wines you can get from California for aging," he told me. "I've had Stony Hill Rieslings 30 years old that taste like they were put in the bottle six months ago." The winery has had remarkable continuity. Mike Chelini took over as winemaker in 1977 and has stayed with a neutral oak, no-malolactic style. The trend in restaurants has swung back around, but trends don't matter much because the winery sells most of its production to longtime fans via its mailing list.