Winemaker Notes
Coming from special vineyard sites, our Chardonnays show great depth of flavor, length of finish, aromatic complexity, and a fine balance between richness and delicacy. Typically, the climate is cool and the soil vigor low, producing graceful yet vibrant wines. This is our fourth bottling from this unique vineyard.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
This cool-sited single vineyard, owned by the Martinelli family, was planted to Ramey’s specifications in 2007 using the famous old-fashioned Wente clone. Though the vineyard lies in the Russian River appellation, this wine is more Sonoma Coast in style, with wonderful lemony aromas and very bright, intense citrussy flavours. There's plenty of vibrancy and zing, and silky rather than creamy textures. Nineteen months' ageing in 20% new French oak barrels gives it depth and balance.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a Martinelli family-farmed site, a mark of excellence and history that's hard to beat. Floral and textured, it is marked by bright focused acidity around a core of textured baked-apple flavor and hazelnut crème brûlée. It tastes complete and complex, with undeniable richness and concentration.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Chardonnay Woolsey Road Vineyard has a wonderfully sexy nose of exotic spices, honeycomb and pear tart with suggestions of jasmine, brioche and nutmeg. Full-bodied, rich and seductive in the mouth, it has a compelling oiliness to the texture and loads of spicy accents, finishing with fantastic length and depth.
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Jeb Dunnuck
From a site just south of River Road, behind Martinelli on a north facing slope, the 2015 Chardonnay Woolsey Road Vineyard is another rich, intense, full-bodied Chardonnay offering loads of tangerine oil, spice, and honeysuckle. It has bright acidity and a clean vibe, but packs beautiful fruit.
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.