Winemaker Notes
This is the second vintage to come exclusively from the Martinelli Charles Ranch, two miles in from the Pacific. Coming entirely from this vineyard site, our Sonoma Coast Chardonnay shows great depth of flavor, length of finish, aromatic complexity, and a fine balance between richness and delicacy. This vineyard has a typically cool climate, low vigor soil, and a vine selection that generates small berries, small clusters and inherently low yields
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Ramey Fort Ross-Seaview Chardonnay is well-built and lasting on the palate. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows up with a full force of ripe fruit and oak in its aromas and flavors. Pair its richness with broiled lobster in a decadent cream sauce. (Tasted: April 21, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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Jeb Dunnuck
The appellation 2017 Chardonnay Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma Coast comes all from the Charles Ranch Vineyard and spent a year in 25% new French oak. Terrific notes of sautéed orchard fruits, crushed lemons, and white flowers notes all emerge from the glass, and it has a kiss of background oak, bright acidity, and a great finish. It's a balanced, classic Chardonnay from Ramey that will keep for a decade.
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Wine Spectator
Powerful and well-structured, featuring concentrated Gala apple and white cherry flavors, backed by fresh acidity. Sea salt accents show midpalate, with a minerally finish. Drink now through 2024.
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.
On the far western edge of the larger Sonoma Coast appellation, the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA hugs right up against the Pacific coast. Vineyards, planted at rugged elevations between 920 to 1,800 feet, occupy only two percent of the total land in the AVA. Fort Ross-Seaview growers believe that the region boasts an ideal mix of sunshine, cool air and beneficial stress for producing high quality Chardonnay and Pinot noir.