“Bright yellow. Yellow fruits, spices and a floral topnote on the nose. Chewy, savory and classic in the mouth, conveying a strong impression of solidity to the highly complex flavors of peach, flowers, spices, nuts and salty minerality. With its outstanding depth of texture, this comes across as slightly softer than the 2009–even a bit more exotic in its mouthfeel. One still senses the CO2, but then this wine is still short of its peak.”

– 94 pts, Stephen Tanzer, vinous, July 2017

2010 was a cool though not cold vintage; we harvested Ritchie the 29th of September.  Fully mature grapes made a wine of plush richness, though the cool vintage ensured racy acidity.

All of our Chardonnays are whole-cluster pressed and go through native yeast fermentation and then delayed malolactic fermentation in Burgundian oak barrels. Due to their great density and structure, vineyard-designate wines are able to absorb more oak without being overwhelmed, and see approximately 45% new French barrels.  In addition, these wines spend more time in barrel (for this wine 21 months), completely sur lies, before being bottled without filtration.

Our Ritchie Chardonnay walks the fine line between richness and delicacy.  It has a great mouthfeel that balances power and elegance.