2017 Kent Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay | MacRostie Winery & Vineyards

Tasting Notes

From its pale yellow straw color with light green reflections to its enticing hibiscus, peach, and pineapple aromas, this wine is just plain gorgeous. The perfumed floral and stone fruit elements continue on the palate where they are underscored by a silky richness that carries the wine a long, luxurious finish.

Accolades

93 Points: Jeb Dunnuck jebdunnuck.com - June 2019

“From one of the Grand Cru sites in the Russian River, the 2017 Chardonnay Kent Ritchie Russian River Valley has a medium gold color as well as a solid bouquet of ripe peach, candied lemon, cumin, and white flowers. It's rich, powerful, and concentrated, with both beautiful fruit and bright acidity. It's a quintessential Russian River Chardonnay that will keep for at least 7-8 years.”

91 Points: Wine Enthusiast

Winemaking

In order to maximize quality, while providing a distinct mouthfeel and texture, the harvested grapes went directly to press as whole clusters and were gently pressed. After settling, the juice was racked into French oak barrels for fermentation. The wine spent its entire life in the barrel where it completed primary and secondary malo-lactic fermentations and was aged on the lees for 11 months. In order to increase richness and body, it was occasionally stirred. This vintage had tight acid so 36% new French oak was used in order to broaden the mouthfeel and balance the acid. This Chardonnay was bottled on August 10th, 2018.

Vintage

The 2017 growing season started off as a wet one. Record rainfall through April invigorated the vines and bolstered canopies. Moderate-to-warm temperatures followed, allowing the vines to bloom and mature fruit in a balanced and tempered way. We did apply more leafing in our canopy management to counter the invigorating effects of the rain. All of our Chardonnay blocks were picked prior to the devastating wine country fires in early October, leaving all wine lots free of possible smoke influence. Grapes were picked on September 4th, 2017.

Vineyard

This prized site in the Russian River Valley has been farmed for more than 40 years by renowned winegrower Kent Ritchie. The vineyard is planted to the Wente Selection of Chardonnay, which grows on gently rolling hillsides in sandy loam soils with striations of sandstone. The Russian River Valley’s famous clockwork fog keeps this site cool, and provides ideal conditions for growing a classic expression of Chardonnay.

Technical Notes

composition:
100% Chardonnay
alcohol: 14.5%
cases made:
11 barrels
256 cases
bottling date: 08/10/2018
aging:
Aged 11 months sur-lie in French oak; 36% new
fermentation:
Whole cluster pressed then racked to French oak for primary and malolactic fermentation.

2017 Kent Ritchie Vineyard

About this Wine

93 Points