2008 Vintage

94 Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar May/June 2011
Vivid gold. Ripe pear, orange zest and smoky minerality on the nose. Deeply pitched but energetic, offering bright orchard fruit flavors and a deeper note of peach pit. Then spicy, dry and penetrating on the finish, which features notes of iodine and bitter herbs. Shows an intriguing blend of richness and vivacity and should be even better with a few years of bottle age.

92 Robert M. Parker Jr.’s The Wine Advocate, February 2011
The medium to full-bodied 2008 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard offers scents of pineapples, pears, honeysuckle and subtle spicy oak. With good power, density and richness, it should drink nicely for 4-5 years.

93 Wine Spectator, June 30, 2011
Delivers a tight, taut laser beam of flavors, riding lively acidity that carries the green apple, pineapple, citrus and honeydew melon notes. Gains depth and velocity, and is built to gain even more with cellaring. Drink now through 2016.

93 California Grapevine, April-May 2011
Medium-light golden yellow; attractive, forward, toasty, baked apple aroma with notes of hazelnut, tropical fruit, and cinnamon; full body; forward, rich, plush, intense, citrusy, green apple flavors; well balanced with firm acidity; lingering aftertaste. Very similar in style to Ramey’s other two vineyard-designated Chardonnays though seemed to have a slight bit more depth as it opened and developed with airing in the glass. Very highly recommended.

2007 Vintage

93 Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar May/June 2010
Bright green-tinged gold. The richest and most opulent of this set of vineyard chardonnays, displaying ripe peach, melon and nectarine scents, along with toasty lees and a hint of star anise. Broad and deeply concentrated but energetic, offering rich orchard fruit flavors that are given spine by subtle minerality. This seamless, expressive wine is already drinking well and finishes with excellent clarity and sappy persistence.

93 Robert M. Parker Jr.’s The Wine Advocate, February 2010
The single vineyard Chardonnays are all superb. The most structured and backward is the 2007 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard, which comes across as slightly tannic. Full-bodied with an earthy, rich minerality, fresh, lively poached pear, honeysuckle, and subtle smoke and tropical fruit notes, this well delineated Chardonnay reveals laser-like clarity. It will drink well for 5+ years. All of the single vineyard Chardonnays are aged in two-thirds new French oak, and the generic offerings see one-third new French oak.

94 (two puffs) Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, May 2010
In 2007, this stunning Chardonnay is our pick of the very good bunch from Ramey. It reflects much the same winemaking hand insofar as it is firm, compact and solidly-structured with nary a suggestion of fat, but it moves to the head of the clan by virtue of its extra richness and depth. While it presently hints at stony complexity and teams generous, wonderfully continuous, young fruit with very deftly fit oak, it has a good distance to go before it fully unwinds, and to drink it before it has had the chance to age for two or three years will be to miss what is sure to be a very grand wine.

92 Wine Spectator, May 5, 2010
Fresh floral and fruity aromas are intense and vibrant, deeply concentrated, young and firm, mixing green apple with spice, honey and honeydew melon and ending with a long, lingering finish. Drink now through 2014.-J.L.

Five stars Ronn Wiegand's Restaurant Wine Issue 133 & 134, Jan/Feb & Mar/Apr, 2010
The Ritchie is very complex in style (more so than previous vintages); a crisp, full bodied, near-Burgundian wine, with intense flavors, and a long finish, tasting of roasted nut, pink grapefruit, vanilla, toast, and honey. 1,275 cases.

2006 Vintage

94 Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar May/June 2008
Bright yellow. Stunningly complex bouquet offers ripe citrus and orchard fruits, smoky minerals, saffron, white flowers and anise. Deeply concentrated but suave and fresh, with energetic pear and tangerine flavors complicated by anise and chalky minerality. This reaches every nook and cranny of the palate, delivering serious flavor impact. The finish refuses to let go, with the smoke and anise qualities repeating.

91 Robert M. Parker Jr.’s The Wine Advocate, December 2008
The three single vineyard Chardonnays are all from top sites, the Hudson and Hyde vineyards in Carneros, and the Russian River’s Ritchie Vineyard. More lemon oil, hazelnut, and smoke are present in the 2006 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard. Full-bodied, fresh, and lively, it is an outstanding effort.

94 (two puffs) Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, February 2009
Seemingly the deepest and most energetically balanced of the exceptional Ramey trio, this wine is a touch simpler in its central character and a bit sweeter in its fruit. It is going to have great appeal for uses with the less briny, small oysters and with fish like Dover sole than it will with more savory foods, but it is also likely to find greater range over time, and may turn out to be the longest lived of the Ramey trio.

95 Wine Spectator, Dec. 31, 2008-Jan. 15, 2009
Deliciously complex and full-bodied, this is layered with flavors, showing citrus and tropical fruit, with hints of anise and buttery oak, yet the acidity keeps the flavors tangy and vibrant. Drink now through 2012. 1,300 cases made. –JL

Five stars Ronn Wiegand’s Restaurant Wine, Issue #128, Vol. 21, No. 1 November/December 2008
The Ritchie is somewhat lighter than either the Hyde or Hudson, but is very well balanced and finely flavored, with a very long finish reminiscent of lemon peel, roasted nut, baked bread, vanilla, baked pear, and lime.

92 California Grapevine, Vol. 34, No. 6, Dec 2008-Jan 2009
Medium-light golden yellow; attractive, forward, intense, buttery, apple pie à la mode aroma; full body; rich, intense, toasty, citrussy, pear and apple flavors; well balanced and structured. Deserves a few more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

Highlighted Reviews: 2005 Vintage

95    Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate, December 2007
The 2005 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard shows crushed rock, white currant, citrus oil, pineapple, peach, and apricot characteristics. Long, rich, and deep with strong acidity, it should be consumed over the next 4-5 years.

92    California Grapevine, Vol. 32, No. 6, Dec 2006-Jan 2007, p. 110
Medium-light yellow color; attractive, intense, complex, toasty, spiced apple aroma with notes of lemon zest and butterscotch; full body; tight, citrussy, nutty, green apple flavors with good depth and well integrated oak; well balanced and structured; lingering aftertaste. Very appealing to taste now though it should continue to develop and improve with several more years of bottle aging. Very highly recommended.

94    Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar May/June 2008
Bright yellow. Stunningly complex bouquet offers ripe citrus and orchard fruits, smoky minerals, saffron, white flowers and anise. Deeply concentrated but suave and fresh, with energetic pear and tangerine flavors complicated by anise and chalky minerality. This reaches every nook and cranny of the palate, delivering serious flavor impact. The finish refuses to let go, with the smoke and anise qualities repeating.

Highlighted Reviews: 2004 Vintage

93    Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate 12-22-06
The 2004 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard exhibits wonderfully sweet brioche, bee's wax, honeyed pineapple, and some hazelnut notes. It has crisp acidity, a rich, long, full-bodied finish, and a style that seems to beautifully transpose a European allegiance to elegance with a California predilection for ripeness. That is what is so admirable about not only the Chardonnays from Ramey but the red wines as well.

91    Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar May/June 07
Light gold. Fat and ripe, with full-blown melon, poached pear and peach aromas. Forward, ripe tropical and orchard fruit flavors are gently lifted by soft acidity and a touch of minerals. Gains weight on the finish, which features expansive orange and nectarine flavors and excellent length. This is the most fruit-driven of Ramey's vineyard-designated chardonnays.

91    California Grapevine, Vol. 32, No. 6, Dec 2006-Jan 2007, p. 111
Medium-light yellow; attractive, forward, intense, toasty, buttery, ripe tropical fruit aroma with notes of citrus, toasted hazelnut, and butterscotch; full body; rich, textured, toasty, ripe Chardonnay fruit flavors; well balanced and structured for bottle aging; lingering aftertaste. This is the third vineyard-designated Chardonnay released by Ramey this fall. Very highly recommended.

89 (one puff)     Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, February 2007
We can see some of the same firmness and tight linearity of the Hudson Vineyard bottling here, but whereas that wine is a bit sparing in fruit, this one comes with an amplified sense of fresh apples and pears, and it keeps oak to a quiet, complementary role. Solid, alive and entirely capable of aging well, this vigorous youngster can safely be set aside for another two or three years of positive development.

Highlighted Reviews: 2003 Vintage

95 (three puffs)     Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, June 2006
Complex and fruity at the same time, this impressive wine starts with nuances of roasted grains and creamy oak layered amidst its deep, expansively-fruited aromas. Somewhat fleshy and firmly balanced on the palate in the style of the best Ramey bottlings, it boasts an enormous reservoir of vitality that brightens its multi-faceted personality, and its polish and succulence hold on well at the end in its admirably lengthy finish. It is delicious today yet should age exceptionally well.

95    Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate 12-26-05, Issue 162
The 2003 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard, from a vineyard planted in 1972 with the Old Wente clone on Goldridge soils, shows opulent levels of tropical fruit intermixed with beeswax and orange skin/nectarine notes. It is full-bodied, with a superb purity, terrific acidity, and a long, heady finish.

93   Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar May/June 2006
Full bright yellow. Fresh apricot, lemon, toast, crushed stone, iodine and smoke on the highly nuanced nose. Velvety and saline on the palate, but with its complexity somewhat muted today by a whiff of reduction. But this chewy wine possesses superb concentration and length. Harmonious acids frame and extend the wine's sweet fruit.

View all reviews of this wine