Winemaker Notes
The 2022 Riva Ranch Vineyard Chardonnay has plenty of character. It is loaded with perfectly ripened apples, lemon curd, and toasted brioche, which team together to form the foundation of this deep and delightfully expressive vineyard selection. The optimally ripened fruit is complimented by a tasteful measure of slightly creamy oak that hints at notes of toasted marshmallow, along with a dollop of buttery richness that lasts well into the lengthy finish.
Blend: 97% Chardonnay, 3% Gewürztraminer
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Lemon drop, sweet cream, fresh corn, and pear tart are some of the stunning flavors that perform on the nose and palate. Pineapple upside-down cake, gardenia, and jasmine are exotic and reflect a marvelous vintage.
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James Suckling
Grilled pistachio and creamy toast to the ripe, spiced pineapples and lemon curd. Round and full-bodied on the palate with supple, medium-low acidity and a phenolic bite to the broad, waxy finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Warm aromas of Lemonhead candies, lemon curd, Asian pear and wet rocks invite the nose into this bottling. The palate combines zesty lemon peel flavors with creamier notes of toasted almond, butter and honeysuckle while leading into a salty finish.
Founded in 1883, Wente Vineyards is the country’s longest continuously family-owned and operated winery. Today, the winery maintains its leadership role in California winegrowing under the ownership and management of the fourth and fifth generations of the Wente family. Blending traditional and innovative winemaking practices, the winery draws from its sustainably-farmed vineyards to create an outstanding portfolio of wines. The family owns and operates vineyards in two world-class regions of the Central Coast of California - Livermore Valley and Arroyo Seco, Monterey. Located just east of San Francisco in the historic Livermore Valley, Wente Vineyards is recognized as one of California’s premier wine country destinations, featuring wine tasting, food and wine experiences, and championship golf.
In 1912, 2nd Generation Ernest Wente persuaded his father and founder, C.H. Wente, to import Chardonnay cuttings from a well-known vine nursery, F. Richter Nursery in Montpellier, France, to the Livermore Valley. Ernest hand-picked vines that showed the best health and pronounced flavors, grafted the two together and propagated those characteristics forward. Ultimately creating what is known as the ‘Wente Clone.’ Today, over 75% of all California Chardonnay stems from the Wente Clone and the Wente Family property.
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.
Named after the dramatic, seasonal river of rain and snowmelt that cuts through the upper elevations of the Santa Lucia Mountains, the Arroyo Seco AVA extends east from the resultant mountain gorge, and into the rural and warm Salinas Valley. During the growing season, cool and damp Pacific Ocean air penetrates the gorge and flows into the valley, creating a cool evening respite for vineyards after a hot summer day. This natural water-release has also created a subterranean aquifer, which helps set the foundation of the AVA's boundaries and supplies the vineyards with water.
Arroyo Seco was actually home to the first commercial vineyard in California, called Mission Ranch, which was owned and propogated by the Mirassou family in the 1960s.
Chardonnay is most widely grown here. But as one of Monterey’s warmer regions, Arroyo Seco enjoys the highest praise for its reds, namely Bordeaux blends.
Arroyo Seco is one of the oldest AVAs in California, its status granted in the early 1980s, and also remains one of its smallest.