2023 Ramey Rochioli Vineyard Chardonnay Russian River Valley 3pk 3x750ml

There are maybe a dozen California Chardonnays I'd hand to someone who only drinks Burgundy. This is one of them.

The fruit comes from Rochioli — the vineyard on Westside Road the Rochioli family has farmed since the late '50s, now run by the third generation. They turn down almost every winery that asks; Ramey has held a single-vineyard bottling from this site for years, which tells you more about the relationship than any tasting note will.

David Ramey founded the label in 1996, after Pétrus, Dominus, and Chalk Hill, building his Chardonnay around whole-cluster pressing, native yeast fermentation, and full native malolactic in barrel — a combination that helped define a new, richer, silkier California style still widely emulated today. The 2023 is 74% Mid-40 block, 26% River block, picked at 22.7 Brix, aged twenty months in French oak with just 20% new wood, and bottled unfiltered. The result is lean, chalky, and long, with the oak sitting in the back of the room where it belongs. Roast a chicken. Open it an hour early.

"David Ramey doesn't get anywhere near the attention he deserves. Today, it seems the focus is on extremes as the wine world is increasingly about a polarization of so-called 'very ripe' wines versus the more 'restrained' style. Ramey's wines are neither, but rather bring together the best of both schools of thought. The Chardonnays combine distinctly Californian expressions of site with Burgundian concepts of aging where the wines spend a full 18 months in barrel, something that is rarely seen in this country. The results speak for themselves. These are among the very best Chardonnays being made in California." - Antonio Galloni on Ramey