“Full yellow-gold; the darkest of the range of Ritchie wines): More advanced on the nose than the 2005, offering slightly funky, high-toned aromas of orchard fruits and earth. Fat and sweet but a bit heavy, conveying a bitter edge to its very ripe peach and mirabelle flavors that carries through to the wine’s somewhat phenolic finish. Can’t match the 2004 Hyde for density or length, much less verve and definition, but this is still in reasonably good shape.”

–92 pts, Stephen Tanzer, vinous, July 2017

Situated directly in the center of the Russian River appellation, our block of Kent Ritchie’s vineyard was planted in 1972 to the old Wente selection. Widely spaced—the fashion at the time—these old vines with their gnarly trunks produce tiny quantities of grapes per vine. The benchland soil is pure Goldridge Loam, common to great vineyards in this part of the Russian River Valley.