Ramey Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2021

Description

Ramey Wine Cellars was founded in 1996 by David Ramey and his wife Carla, after David had worked for almost two decades at such famous wineries as Matanzas Creek and Dominus. "Owning one's own winery is the dream of every winemaker,"; David says, looking back on the path that led him to build his own.
Located just off the town square in Healdsburg, the winery is perfectly placed to make use of the great Sonoma and Carneros terroir famous for the quality of their Chardonnays. Ramey's philosophy is to make hand-crafted wines made in an Old World tradition, coupled with New World innovation.

The 2018 season was exemplary. Spring was drier than in 2017 and after two years of poor set, consistently mild weather led to good berry set. Higher cluster counts than the low yielding years of 2015-2017, coupled with cooler late summer temperatures, brought longer hangtimes with harvest dates up to two weeks later than the previous vintage. Coming from special vineyard sites, this Chardonnay shows great depth of flavour, length of finish, aromatic complexity, and a fine balance between richness and delicacy. Typically, the climate is cool and the soil vigor low, producing graceful yet vibrant wines.

After aging 12 months in 15% new French oak barrels (François Frères, Taransaud Beaune), the Chardonnay was traditionally fined for clarity during the following harvest and bottled without filtration in February 2020 

95 Points – Wine Enthusiast, Jim Gordon “Both agile and relaxed, this well-balanced, vibrant and concentrated wine carries layers of crisp apple, pastry crust and lemon curd on snappy acidity that complements a fairly rich texture and medium body. Its creamy-tangy finish lingers a long time.