Winemaker Notes
The citrus characters lead the aromas this vintage, promising the mouth-watering taste to come. The energetic lemon oil of the nose is accented by tropical notes of guava, kumquat and young pineapple. A whiff of jasmine and an underlay of chestnut perform a floral/savory dance, with crushed oyster shells adding a note of mineral salinity. As you dive in for the first sip, the lemon and tangerine spreads out in a creamy but gossamer light caress, providing an enthralling textural element to the wine that’s usually reserved for reds. The lingering finish of vanilla brioche is both decadently rich and super bright.
With a wine like this, you may find the bottle gone before you get to dinner, but if you do make it last, it will be wonderful with pasta or fowl in a cream sauce or light and bright fare from the sea. Try to put some away in your cellar to see how amazingly it shows with a few years of age.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
From a site composed of sandy Goldridge soil, this white is tremendously floral, showing off the Gewürztraminer-like flamboyance of the musqué clone. It's equally exotic on the palate, its dense, gravelly texture offset by vibrant acidity, needing a swirl or two in the glass to resolve.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Chardonnay Rued Vineyard opens with subtle lemon curd and grapefruit notes with hints of honeysuckle, buttered toast and cashews. Medium-bodied, the palate offers great freshness with lively citrus notes carried by racy acidity, finishing with lingering yeasty notes.
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the mainstays of the Dutton-Goldfield production. Using fruit from carefully chosen vineyards, Dan Goldfield produces wine that reflects the natural tendencies of the area: crisp, well-structured wines that display the complexity, balance and intensity that the partners believe are key to world-class wines.
Dutton-Goldfield Winery's first releases were a Dutton Ranch Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the 1998 vintage. Today Dan and Steve continue to produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Dutton Ranch plantings, numerous vineyard-designated wines, as well as small lots of old vine Zinfandel and hillside Syrah. The Dutton-Goldfield wines are crafted using traditional techniques such as barrel and malolactic fermentation for the Chardonnay, and open top fermentation for the Pinot Noir.
The winery is a partnership of friends, colleagues, neighbors and families. The wines reflect this spectacular part of Northern California where the grapes are grown, the superb quality of fruit from perfectly placed and planted vineyards, and the work of an appreciative winemaker.
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.
Situated on the foggier and colder western edge of the Russian River Valley, almost abutting the Sonoma Coast appellation, Green Valley is one of California’s most reputable Chardonnay and Pinot noir producing regions. It is also a wonderful source of sparkling wines made from these varieties.
Goldridge soils abound throughout the Green Valley appellation. This fine, dark, sandy loam and fractured sandstone is derived from the remains of ancient inland seabeds dating back three to five million years. It is valuable for high quality grape growing because of its excellent drainage and low fertility.