2003 Ramey Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard
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Tasting notes
Full bright yellow. Fresh apricot, lemon, toast, crushed stone, iodine and smoke on the highly nuanced nose. Velvety and saline on the palate, but with its complexity somewhat muted today by a whiff of reduction. But this chewy wine possesses superb concentration and length. Harmonious acids frame and extend the wine's sweet fruit.
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Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
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The 2003 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard, from a vineyard planted in 1972 with the Old Wente clone on Goldridge soils, shows opulent levels of tropical fruit intermixed with beeswax and orange skin/nectarine notes. It is full-bodied, with superb purity, terrific acidity, and a long, heady finish. Ramey kindly did a vertical of his two single-vineyard Chardonnays from the Hyde and Hudson Vineyards, and it was interesting that the Hudson aged quickly and was beginning to fade after 2-3 years, but the Hyde wines, even the oldest one, the 1996, were fresh and superb. David Ramey also has a successful consulting business. His list of clients includes the likes of Benziger, Saracina, Dierburg, Niebaum-Coppola, Lancaster, Audellsa, Landmark, Snowden, Rodney Strong, and Manoogian. Tel. (707) 833-2535; Fax (707) 833-5620