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2019 Ridge Vineyards "Estate" Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay

2019 Ridge Vineyards "Estate" Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay

95JD
94JS
92VN
91WS
$49.99

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95

Jeb Dunnuck

Reviewed July 2021
Coming from the Santa Cruz Mountains, the 2019 Chardonnay Estate offers a beautiful sense of reduction and minerality in its stone fruits, toasted brioche, and crushed stone-like aromas and flavors. A kiss of green almonds and salinity emerges with time in the glass, and this is a beautiful, classic Chardonnay from this team that will evolve gracefully for a good 20 years or more.

Professional Reviews

94

James Suckling

Review Date: 02/2021
Concentrated aromas of hawthorn, dried pineapple, salted caramel and buttered toast. It’s full-bodied with bright acidity and intense, tightly wound layers of ripe, spiced fruit. Fantastic phenolic tension and energy here.

92

Vinous

Review Date: 03/2022
The 2019 Chardonnay Estate is super-elegant and precise. Scents of tangerine oil, mint, apricot and chamomile all grace this lithe, wonderfully expressive Chardonnay. Bright acids and a very slight touch of reduction frame the close. The Estate is made for near and medium-term drinking. (AG)

91

Wine Spectator

Review Date: 07/2021
Big and rich, with concentrated baked pear, apple pastry and glazed apricot flavors that are luscious and well-spiced. The creamy finish is loaded with buttery plushness. (KM)

Staff Reviews

RW
Ryan Woodhouse

Ryan Woodhouse

K&L Buyer
One of the most dramatically different wines in Ridge’s portfolio today versus a decade ago is the estate Chard. Grown on Monte Bello vineyard, this wine has become progressively more restrained and focused, with a deliberate dialing back of ripeness and new oak usage. It’s still a powerful, flavorful wine, but the crystalline core of acidity and minimal oak impact really allows the quality and vitality of the fruit to shine through.

Notes

After tasting this wine, it's stunning to consider that Ridge is not known for Chardonnay. Somehow this estate bottled wine has flown under the radar, yet they've been bottling it since 1962. It's aged in 90% American oak, of which only 20% is new, and the balance is French oak. They moved to a concentration of American oak after years of figuring out the right cooperage and how to properly integrate it. Ultimately, it's perfectly integrated into the wine. To be clear, this is not an oak-driven wine, but the regimen gives the wine elegance and complexity and a long, creamy finish. While savory and succulent now, this wine has the track record to age for vintages to come. An absolute gem.

Details

OriginSanta Cruz Mountains, California, United States
Type/VarietalChardonnay
SKU1530489