Ramey Chardonnay Woolsey Road Vineyard 2019 750ml

The 2019 Chardonnay Woolsey Road Vineyard has singular scents of warm peaches and burnt lemon with touches of meringue, beeswax, saline and flint. The medium-bodied palate is energetic and tense at this youthful stage, its satiny texture opposed by tangy freshness, and it finishes long and flinty. It will be long lived in bottle and will benefit from 3-5 more years under cork. 624 cases were made.

• Country: United States
• Region: California
• Appellation: Sonoma Valley
• Sub Appellation: Russian River Valley
• Size: 750ml
• Color: White

Varietal

Chardonnay

Of all the white wine grape varietals, surely the one that has spread the furthest and is most widely appreciated is Chardonnay. This green-skinned grape is now grown all over the Old and New Worlds, from New Zealand to the Americas, from England to Chile, and is one of the first varietals people think of when considering white wine grapes. Perhaps this is because of its huge popularity, which reached a peak in the 1990s, thanks to new technologies combining with traditional methods to bring the very best features out of the Chardonnay grape and allow its unique qualities to shine through. Most fine Chardonnay wines use a process known as malolactic fermentation, wherein the malic acids in the grape juice are converted to lactic acids, allowing a creamier, buttery nature to come forward in the wine. No grape varietal is better suited to this process than Chardonnay, which manages to balance these silky, creamy notes with fresh white fruit flavors beautifully.