Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
Bold, rich and expressive, layered and complex, offering tiers of ripe citrus and lemon peel, pear and melon, with touches of hazelnut and spice. Ends with a rich, smoky butterscotch flavor that gives this added dimension. Drink now through 2015.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard comes from 30+ year old vines of the Old Wente clone, which was apparently a suitcase clone taken from Louis Latour's parcels in Corton-Charlemagne, just north of Beaune. It exhibits a beautiful honeyed citrus, nectarine, crushed rock, honeysuckle and tropical fruit blossom-scented bouquet, terrific stuffing, good acidity and wonderful density as well as richness. Because of the tiny yields in that vintage, the 2008s tend to be more concentrated than the 2009s, which are more elegant, lower in alcohol and not quite as dense.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A vast appellation covering Sonoma County’s Pacific coastline, the Sonoma Coast AVA runs all the way from the Mendocino County border, south to the San Pablo Bay. The region can actually be divided into two sections—the actual coastal vineyards, marked by marine soils, cool temperatures and saline ocean breezes—and the warmer, drier vineyards further inland, which are still heavily influenced by the Pacific but not quite with same intensity.
Contained within the appellation are the much smaller Fort Ross-Seaview and Petaluma Gap AVAs.
The Sonoma Coast is highly regarded for elegant Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and, increasingly, cool-climate Syrah. The wines have high acidity, moderate alcohol, firm tannin, and balanced ripeness.