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> Powerful winds blow the outer layers of these stars off until there is nothing left but a white dwarf.

This doesn’t sound like an accurate description of white dwarf formation. Or is it?

It's accurate. Stellar winds are the primary driver of mass loss for stars near the end of their lives. Asymptotic red giants have extremely voluminous and sparse atmospheres very loosely bound by gravity; any excess radiation pressure would create an instability and blow away portions of the outer envelope. Eventually this exposes a dense, glowing carbon/oxygen/neon core surrounded by a fraction of the original atmosphere (exact composition varies), which we call a white dwarf.

Further reading: Ch. 13, Carroll & Ostlie, Introduction to Modern Astrophysics

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