2021 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay
94 points
Wine Enthusiast
This wine opens with inviting notes of lemon zest, cardamom, and white tea coupled with dense citrus fruits. Balanced and elegant, textures and flavors flow smoothly into layers of rich fruit extract supporting a long, articulated finish.
2021 will be remembered as a challenging year, with record low rainfall producing smaller vine growth and very low yields of very small berries. 2021 is also a remarkably fine vintage with many wines performing near their best in quality. The young 2021 wines are showing great promise as intensely concentrated, complex wines, sure to give pleasurable drinking for years to come.
With its beautiful old vines nestled on a rolling northwest-facing hillside, Kent Ritchie Vineyard has established a reputation as one of the Russian River Valley’s finest winegrowing sites. Originally planted in 1972, Kent Ritchie Vineyard features classic sandy Goldridge soils on a sloping benchland that leads to the Russian River. The grapes from this wine come from our block of Wente clone Chardonnay at the crest of one of highest hills.
100% Whole-cluster pressed
100% Burgundian French oak barrels (18% new; 82% 1-3year old). All 3-year aged staves
Bottled without filtration to preserve the wine’s aromas and flavors and enhance aging potential
This wine is Vegan
- Type:
- White
- Varietal:
- Chardonnay
- Region:
- California
- Appellation:
- Russian River Valley
- Vintage:
- 2021
- Blend:
- 100% Chardonnay
- Aging:
- Sur lie aged with regular stirring; aged 16 months on primary lees before bottling
- Alcohol:
- 14.5%
- Fermentation:
- 100% indigenous yeast fermentation; 100% malo-lactic fermentation in barrel