“Bright, healthy yellow with a gold tinge. Less open on the nose than the 2008 but ultimately more complex, offering musky yet youthful scents of fresh peach, apricot, butterscotch and toasty, spicy oak. Wonderfully rich and savory in the mouth, with an almost tactile quality to its spiciness. Quite youthful for its age, still retaining primary flavors of peach and apricot. Subtle underlying minerality provides focus and extends the lightly phenolic finish. Interestingly, Ramey told me he wishes he had picked this fruit at 23 degrees Brix rather than 24.”

–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.