2012 Ramey Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay

2012 Ramey Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay

97 points Wine Enthusiast

*Editors’ Choice* This wine is deliciously elegant yet decadently rich in all the right ways, from a prime, longtime vineyard source planted to vines over 40 years old. Honeyed apple comes to the fore amid lush, formidable layers of complexity and high-minded pursuit, never getting bogged down, the minerality perfectly pitched and the oak fully integrated. (7/2015)

94 points Vinous
The 2012 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is the most opulent and also the most nuanced of these wines. Almonds, matchstick, hazelnuts, tangerine peel, savory herbs and mint are all super-expressive in the glass. Hints of tropical fruit develop in the glass, adding to the wine’s sense of exoticism as the flavors build to a finish imbued with a Chassagne-like oiliness and sense of viscosity. …The 2012 Chardonnays are beautiful, expressive and ready to go. (AG) (1/2015)

93 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
The 2012 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard (1,350 cases) exhibits more honeysuckle and green apple skin characteristics in a rich, exuberant, crisp, mineral style with a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, a lovely texture and a long finish. Drink now-2018. David Ramey, who is one of the veterans of high-quality winemaking on California’s North Coast, worked in France and at some of the top Napa wineries (Rudd and Dominus) before settling in Healdsburg in Sonoma Valley. He continues to make Chardonnay in a Burgundian style with full malolactic fermentation, and now produces four single-vineyard Chardonnays as well as two generic efforts from the Russian River and Sonoma Coast. (RP) (12/2014)

92 points Connoisseurs Guide
*Two Stars* Although coming across as the tightest and least outgoing of the Ramey Chardonnay clan, this slightly wiry youngster conveys a fine sense of fruity depth and the certain promise to unfold with age. It is presently fixed on citrus and stones with a core smattering of sweeter fruit that is looking to more fully emerge, and, while its ample acidity affords a great deal of brightness and verve, it presently pushes the wine toward narrowing back-palate stiffness. Much like its companion from the Platt Vineyard, it very much wants a fair bit of time in which to evolve, and the smart money says to stash it away and out of reach in the cellar for at least two to four years. (5/2015)

92 points Wine Spectator
A rich, creamy texture frames the ripe fig, melon, hazelnut and sandalwood flavors, all set in an elegant, delicate framework, sailing along on the finish. Drink now through 2020. (7/2015)