Winemaker Notes
Aromatically the wine is extremely fruit-forward with guava, white peaches, butter, and lemon curd. On the palate, the wine is full of ripe fruits, notes of fine baking spices, and piles of minerality.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The Ritchie Vineyard would be a grand cru if Sonoma was Burgundy, and Ramey offers one of the best renditions of it. Gorgeous, vibrant fruit melds with a pronounced minerality. There are stony and spicy nuances on a great structure of racy acidity. No hurry to drink this wine; it will gain even more complexity and layers with time.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard, which can be bold and hedonistic in warmer vintages, is more reminiscent of Chablis. It has transparent aromas of lemon curd, chalk and creme fraiche. The light-bodied palate features concentrated citrus and stone fruit tempered by chalky character. It has a softly creamy texture foiled by a firm spine of acidity and boasts a very long, detailed finish. Rating: 95+
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Vinous
The 2021 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is fabulous. A Chardonnay of stature and textural finesse, the 2021 is super-expressive right out of the gate. There's gorgeous oiliness and nuance here. Ritchie is one of the great sites in the Russian River Valley. Vibrant mineral notes play off the wine's notable richness. This is a fine example.
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Wine Spectator
There's a wonderful energy to the lemon sherbet, pear, lime zest and pineapple flavors at the core of this sleek, vibrant white. Offers notes of white flowers, dried ginger and vetiver, plus a mouthwatering thread of saline and lemongrass on the long, expansive finish.
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 standout region for its decidedly Californian take on Burgundian varieties, the Russian River Valley is named for the eponymous river that flows through it. While there are warm pockets of the AVA, it is mostly a cool-climate growing region thanks to breezes and fog from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir reign supreme in Russian River, with the best examples demonstrating a unique combination of richness and restraint. The cool weather makes Russian River an ideal AVA for sparkling wine production, utilizing the aforementioned varieties. Zinfandel also performs exceptionally well here. Within the Russian River Valley lie the smaller appellations of Chalk Hill and Green Valley. The former, farther from the ocean, is relatively warm, with a focus on red and white Bordeaux varieties. The latter is the coolest, foggiest parcel of the Russian River Valley and is responsible for outstanding Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.